Former National Security Advisor John Bolton is taking aim at former President Donald Trump’s results in the Conservative Political Action Conference’s (CPAC) straw poll.
“But just to take CPAC, if this is the epitome of support for Trump, the straw poll that was taken this weekend and released just before Trump spoke, showed of all the participants 55% supported Trump being re-elected as president,” Bolton said during a CNN “Newsroom” interview, according to Mediaite.
Bolton continued to call it a “pathetic figure.”
“That is a pathetic figure,” he said. “I would have expected 90%. So if 55%, one month after leaving office at CPAC, is the best he can do, that’s a mark of how far he has fallen already.”
The straw poll results were released on Sunday, which showed 55% of respondents saying they would vote for Trump in the 2024 Republican primary, as IJR reported.
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) garnered 21% and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) received 4% in the poll.
Additionally, 68% of those polled said they wanted Trump to run again and 95% said they wanted the Republican Party to advance policies embraced by Trump.
Trump spoke at the CPAC on Sunday where he did not rule out a run in the 2024 presidential election, as IJR reported.
“But who knows, who knows, I may even decide to beat them for a third time, okay?” Trump said.
He, however, did rule out launching a third party, “We’re not starting new parties. We have the Republican Party. It’s going to be united and be stronger than ever before. I am not starting a new party.”
