OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Pray Vote Stand Summit straw poll released on Saturday following the Family Research Council Summit in Washington, D.C. demonstrated another poor showing for Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and racked up another impressive polling victory for GOP frontrunner former President Donald J. Trump.
According to the straw poll results published by The Washington Examiner, Trump was dominant with a commanding 63.9% of attendees supporting him while DeSantis earned a meager 27.3% of the survey.
The Examiner reported that no other candidate broke the 3% mark in the straw poll. “Former Vice President Mike Pence got 2.2%, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) got 1.9%, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy got 1.7%, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley got 1.5%. The highest-finishing Democratic presidential candidate in the poll was President Joe Biden with 0.9%.”
In the straw poll for potential vice presidential picks, DeSantis still led the field with 25.1% despite his acrimonious race with Trump. Moreover, Scott came in second with 19.2% followed by Ramaswamy with 13.7%, Haley with 12.5% both scoring below various write-ins at 17.4%. No other candidate broke 10%.
The poll followed strong stump speeches from both candidates in which DeSantis emphasized his refusal to enforce COVID-19 restrictions against houses of worship.
Family and faith are the building blocks of society, but government is waging an assault on both of them.
As President, I will lead the effort to restore full religious liberty in this country. It's time to put on the full armor of God and get it done. pic.twitter.com/8hJljquesp
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) September 14, 2023
DeSantis posted a video from his speech with the caption, “Family and faith are the building blocks of society, but government is waging an assault on both of them. As President, I will lead the effort to restore full religious liberty in this country. It’s time to put on the full armor of God and get it done.”
Conversely, Trump leaned more upon current concerns and said he would launch a special task force to investigate the political prisoners jailed by the Biden administration, many in connection to the January 6th Capitol Riot.
BREAKING: Trump announces that, if elected, he will appoint a special task force to rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner that has been unjustly persecuted by the Biden Administration pic.twitter.com/pInLiu1idy
— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) September 16, 2023
Trump told supporters, “Tonight, I am announcing that the moment I win the election, I will appoint a special task force to rapidly review the cases of EVERY political prisoner who has been unjustly persecuted by the Biden administration.”
He added that this task force would “reverse these cruel travesties of justice” inflicted upon the American people by the Biden regime.
The most recent polling from YouGov/Economist reported by Political Polls on X, formerly Twitter, showed Trump up three points in the polls since August 29th at 55% while DeSantis is steady at 16%, giving Trump a nearly unassailable 39-point advantage over the Florida Governor.
2024 National Republican Primary (Shift since 8/29):
Trump 55% (+3)
DeSantis 16% (=)
Haley 6% (+2)
Ramaswamy 6% (=)
Pence 4% (+1)
Scott 3% (+1)
Christie 2% (=)
Hutchinson 0% (=)
Burgum 0% (=)
Hurd 0% (=)
Elder 0% (=).@YouGovAmerica/@TheEconomist, 537 RV, 9/10-12 https://t.co/A1sX8BsxuQ
— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) September 15, 2023
In a subsequent interview with Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo on Sunday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy appeared to throw his support behind Trump. He told the host of Sunday Morning Futures, “President Trump is stronger today than he was in 2016 or 2020… I served with Ron DeSantis. He’s not at the same level as President Trump by any shape or form. He would not have gotten elected without President Trump’s endorsement.”
Kevin McCarthy stands behind President Trump 100% and says that DeSantis isn’t on Trump’s level in any shape or form💥
“President Trump is stronger today than he was in 2016 or 2020… I served with Ron DeSantis. He’s not at the same level as President Trump by any shape or… pic.twitter.com/366zn5ylmM
— TheStormHasArrived (@TheStormRedux) September 17, 2023
As reported in late August by Explain America, Trump has called upon DeSantis to withdraw from the race in order to unify the Republican party going into the 2024 General election.
“I think he has to get out for the good of the party,” Trump told reporters. “He could have waited, and he would have been odds-on favorite for ’28, but he didn’t do that. I got him elected. If it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t be governor; he’d be working in a law office right now or doing whatever he was going to do.”
“He was dead when I endorsed him, he came begging for an endorsement, and when I endorsed him he had a couple of like a rocket ship. One day! One day,” Trump told Real America’s Voice, adding that DeSantis had been down in the polls.
“He was losing at a level you would never even believe possible,” Trump added. “I even said, ‘I don’t think that if George Washington came back from the dead if Abraham Lincoln came back from the dead, I don’t think they could help you, Ron, you’re dead.’”
