Nearly half of registered Republicans surveyed by a pollster in May said they would support Vice President JD Vance in a primary to succeed Donald Trump in 2028.
A J.L. Partners poll given to the New York Post found that 46 percent of respondents would back Vance, making him the only potential candidate with double-digit support.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in a distant second at 8 percent, followed by the Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy at 7 percent. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz each received 6 percent, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley 5 percent.
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For Democrats, the poll found the most likely 2028 nominee is former Vice President Kamala Harris, who had 30 percent support, followed by former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who had 8 percent backing. Governors Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gavin Newsom of California came in at 7 percent each,
The poll did not consider Trump, 78, as a potential Republican candidate. He will be termed out of office in January 2029, but he and his close allies have signaled he might try to bypass the Constitution and run for office a third time.
Vance, 40, has fully embraced his place in MAGA despite once detesting Trump, calling the then-candidate “America’s Hitler” in 2016. He has been a staunch Trump defender recently and had his loyalty rewarded by being added to the presidential ticket last summer, just two years after he was first elected to public office.
DeSantis, 46, fell out of favor with Trump in 2023 when he campaigned against him in a Republican primary. He may be the most popular candidate for conservatives who do not want to see the MAGA movement continue another four years.
Rubio, 53, ran against Trump in the 2016 Republican primaries and was insultingly nicknamed “Little Marco” by the current president. Rubio and Trump have since become close allies, with the ex-senator from Florida reportedly landing on Trump’s VP shortlist last summer. He is firmly embedded in MAGA as a top official in the Trump administration, but he is not as bombastic as Trump, Vance, or even DeSantis.
Trump said in March that the future of MAGA looked “so strong,” with Rubio and Vance appearing to be the early favorites to get the president’s backing come primary season.
“You look at Marco, you look at JD Vance, who’s fantastic,” he told NBC News in an interview on Meet the Press. “You look at—I could name 10, 15, 20 people right now just sitting here. No, I think we have a tremendous party.”
