Vance Takes Lead in CPAC Straw Poll, Rubio Gains Momentum

More than half of the attendees of the 2026 Conservative Political Action Conference want to see Vice President JD Vance as the 2028 Republican presidential nominee.

A straw poll at CPAC in Grapevine, Texas, released Saturday found that 53% of the more than 1,600 attendees who participated in the survey prefer Vance.

However, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who took second place, gained considerable ground from his standing in last year’s straw poll.

Only 3% of those surveyed chose Rubio last year, while this year, 35% of CPAC attendees voted for Rubio to succeed President Donald Trump. Rubio has taken a prominent role in foreign policy negotiations, such as the operations in Venezuela and Iran.

Vance won last year’s CPAC straw poll with 61% of the vote.

“For anybody who wants to succeed President Trump, they’re going to have to work for it, and they’re going to have to earn it,” CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp told The Daily Signal.

“That’s how President Trump was elected as an outsider,” he added. “He showed up on every stage, and he made everyone else look implausible.”

No other potential candidate—names like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Donald Trump Jr.—received more than 2% of the vote.

Rubio has said he won’t challenge Vance if he runs for president.

“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 told Vanity Fair in an interview published in December.

Vance has called Rubio his “closest friend in the administration.”

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