welcome back to the cnn newsroom. i m jim acosta in washington. just minutes from now former president donald trump will be less than ten miles from the u.s. capitol, addressing a crowd of his adoring supporters as for all intents and purposes the front-runner for the 2024 gop nomination. despite his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, trump has been loading in several polls of republican voters as he delivers the keynote address at the annual cpac gathering later on this afternoon, even though other gop contenders are warning the party to move on from trump. his maga faithful have come to dominate the republicans long-time event. at any moment they will release the results of their straw poll. trump has won the last two with florida governor ron desantis coming in second. both times desantis has not formally announced for 2024 and is skipping this gathering. kristen holmes joins us from cpac where they re gathering in maryland just outside the nation s capital. kristen,
florida governor ron desantis coming in second. both times desantis has not formally announced for 2024 and is skipping this gathering. kristen holmes joins us from cpac where they re gathering in maryland just outside the nation s capital. kristen, i understand the results of this nonscientific straw poll, those results have come in. what are the results? reporter: they are. again, yes, as you said this is unofficial, this is nonscientific, it is just based on who is here at cpac. unsurprisingly trump did win the straw poll 62% over desantis at 22%. everyone else s numbers are much less significant. it would have been a huge blow to former president trump if he had not won this straw poll. this conference, which used to be a beacon for all potential republican hopefuls for president, has really become a complete trumpfest. people are here to see him.