JD Vance is the winner of the Conservative Political Action Conference’s (CPAC) poll regarding the person attendees favor for the GOP presidential nomination in 2028 when President Donald Trump will be termed out.
The vice president took in 53 percent of the straw poll votes, which were submitted by over 1,600 attendees — including several scribes from your favorite outlet, RedState — in results released Saturday.
But someone else did pretty well, too: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has earned enhanced clout and visibility as he has taken on a variety of roles in the administration. After garnering only three percent in 2025, he came in second and pulled in 35 percent this go around.
CPAC straw poll | 3/28
2028 US Republican presidential primary
🟥JD Vance 53%
🟥Marco Rubio 35%
🟥Ron DeSantis 2%
🟥Donald Trump Jr 2%
🟥Ted Cruz 1%
🟥Pete Hegseth 1%
🟥Rand Paul 1%
🟥Tulsi Gabbard 1%
🟥Greg Abbott 1%
🟥RFK Jr 0%
🟥Lindsey Graham 0%
🟥Glenn Youngkin 0%
🟥Rick… pic.twitter.com/yaP9tpkqSL— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) March 28, 2026
While the poll is an indicator of where certain potential candidates stand with the conservative crowd, it is not necessarily a solid predictor of who will actually end up running for the office and winning.
Donald Trump won every year from 2019-2024, but Texas Sen. Ted Cruz took the prize in 2016, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul earned the top nod in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Paul’s father, former Texas Rep. Ron, meanwhile, took 2010 and 2011, with Utah Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) grabbing 2012.
You can see that things have shifted dramatically from just one year ago:
But the poll offers a snapshot of where the energy lies among core supporters of President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.
At last year’s CPAC meeting in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Vance led the straw poll with 61% of the vote, followed by Steve Bannon, a conservative podcaster and Trump adviser during his first term, at 12%, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 7%.
In this year’s addition, no one besides Vance or Rubio came in at over two percent. The 2025 results:
🚨 #BREAKING: Vice President J.D. Vance dominates CPAC’s 2028 Republican primary straw poll.
🔴 J.D. Vance: 61% (+49)
🟠 Steve Bannon: 12%
🟡 Ron DeSantis: 7%
🟢 Marco Rubio: 3%
🟣 Elise Stefanik: 3% pic.twitter.com/0LEiVqO4Z8— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 22, 2025
REDSTATE AT CPAC: CPAC 2026: Reza Pahlavi Lays Out Vision – to Cheers From Iranian Americans – to Make Iran Great Again
You can see more of our CPAC coverage here.
Both Rubio and Vance have made it clear that they do not consider each other as rivals and look at each other as teammates. Rubio told Vanity Fair in December, 2025, “If JD Vance runs for president, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him.” He had also made similar statements before that, as we reported:
Marco Rubio Downplays ’28 Presidential Aspirations, Pulls for Someone Else Instead
Of course, it’s extremely early to be talking about the next GOP nominee, as Donald Trump continues to be very much in charge of the MAGA movement. So far, though, both those guys have proven that they’d be solid contenders to become heir to the Oval Office.
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