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Vice President JD Vance won a straw poll for the GOP’s next presidential candidate at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas.
The poll, taken on Saturday, showed Vance had 53% support from attendees.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio came second, with 35%, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump Jr. tied for third place, on a measly 2%.
Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Texas Governor Greg Abbott each polled 1%.
As The Hill notes, “The closely watched straw poll often serves as an early barometer for how GOP voters are leaning, and Vance’s name at the top indicates that conservative Republicans view him as best suited to succeed President Trump and advance the MAGA agenda.”
Vance was favorite last year too, but his share dropped from 61%.
Marco Rubio, by contrast, won only 3% support last year—as clear a sign as any that his stock among Republicans is sharply on the rise.
Vance and Rubio are already widely touted as the two frontrunners for the Republican nomination in 2028.
Vance has repeatedly dismissed the claim he and Rubio are competitors.
“I don’t feel like that at all,” he told Fox News’s Sean Hannity in November.
“People have asked me, ‘Do you see Marco as a rival?’ And first of all, if either of us end up running, it’s a long ways in the future, and neither of us is entitled to it. So I think it would be ridiculous for me to say Marco is a rival. No, Marco is a colleague.”
A few weeks later, Rubio told Vanity Fair he would be “one of the first people to support” the Vice President if he decides to run in 2028.
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