The young voters who were drawn to a Republican Party led by former President Donald Trump are already open to another leader becoming the face of the GOP.
Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP Photo
During Turning Point’s July student gathering, Trump overwhelmingly won the straw poll, receiving 79 percent support to DeSantis’ 19 percent when both were options in a hypothetical 2024 primary. The poll was sponsored by Turning Point’s political arm, Turning Point Action.
There will be no redo of the poll at the December conference. Instead, the organization will conduct a survey of attendees on their preference for Republican National Committee chair, as Ronna McDaniel faces a challenge in next month’s leadership election.
New national surveys released last week showed a Republican base moving away from Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential primary. Separate polls from the Wall Street Journal and USA Today/Suffolk University found DeSantis leading Trump by double digits in a hypothetical head-to-head primary matchup, while other polling shows the former president’s favorability among Republicans dropping this fall.
Pete Duke, a 21-year-old attending the University of Tennessee, said he appreciates Trump, but it’s an “easy choice” to pick DeSantis as the party’s nominee in 2024. The problem with Trump? “All he does is talk about 2020,” Duke said.
“What I’m hearing from people my age is — everyone who says ‘Let’s go Brandon’ at these football games, you ask them — they’ll say Ron DeSantis is our leader,” Duke continued. “Not Trump. And they all like Trump.”
The Republican Party’s youngest activists certainly like Trump. The event’s exhibit hall included far fewer kiosks selling Trump memorabilia than recent conservative conferences targeting an older demographic — here they were replaced by dozens of ring lights at selfie stations. But signs of Trump were still everywhere.
Grace Rykaczewski, a 22-year-old from New Jersey, clutched a T-shirt dress she had just purchased featuring a grid of Trump’s facial expressions. As of now, Rykaczewski said she plans to support Trump, given his impact on the anti-abortion movement in the United States. But she thinks Trump and DeSantis are “both really great options.”
Acknowledging that DeSantis had signed a 15-week abortion ban this year, Rykaczewski said she could be won over if the Florida governor pursues stricter abortion legislation — and she wants to see younger blood in the White House.
“I think that DeSantis is awesome. I love that he has a young family,” Rykaczewski said. “There would potentially be a time where if DeSantis were to step up and be the pro-life advocate that I would need him to be, that I probably would support him.”