The results are in for the Conservative Political Action Conference's (CPAC) 2024 vice president straw poll.
The Washington Examiner reports that attendees selected entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (D) to be former President Donald Trump's running mate.
Noem and Ramaswamy are believed to be on Trump's "short list" of vice president candidates. There will be more on this in a moment.
First, though, we will look closer at the poll's results.
Nearly 1,500 individuals participated in CPAC's straw poll. They were asked whom they would select to be Trump's running mate.
The Examiner reports:
The list [of possibilities] included 17 contenders, including members of Congress and former rivals. The poll also included some wildcards such as Dr. Ben Carson, who served in Trump’s Cabinet; Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News anchor; and Rep. Marjorie Taylore Greene (R-GA).
Other names on the list were U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Baggard (D-HI), and others.
As mentioned at the outset, Ramaswamy and Noem came in first place. They tied, having each received 15% support. It was actually Gabbard who came in third, with 9%, and then Stefanik and Scott came in fourth, with 8% each.
Notably, of all the candidates, Haley came in last place with only 2% of the vote. Haley is Trump's only remaining rival in the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary. She refuses to drop out of the race despite massive defeats in the early primaries.
Recently, Trump did a town hall event with Fox News. There, Trump was asked about his running mate candidates.
The former president was specifically asked whether the following individuals are on his "short list":
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a Democrat turned independent.
Trump responded in the affirmative, saying: "They are. Honestly, all of those people are good. They’re all good, they’re all solid."
Trump, though, stopped short of revealing his choice. The former president has yet to give any indication as to when he will announce his pick.
The focus has turned to Trump's running mate choice, because it has become a forgone conclusion that he will be the Republican Party's presidential nominee. It's a foregone conclusion because he has dominated the early primaries and he continues to dominate polling.
