Vance Wins CPAC Straw Poll, but Rubio Gains Steam Among MAGA Faithful

Supported by Vance Wins CPAC Straw Poll, but Rubio Gains Steam Among MAGA Faithful Conference organizers presented the poll results as a rebuttal to narratives that Republicans were split over the Iran war and support for Israel. Vice President JD Vance won this year’s straw poll of attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference, with 53 percent of respondents saying he was their preferred choice in the 2028 Republican presidential primary. The figure, announced by organizers on Saturday, was a slight drop from his 61 percent support in last year’s poll, and it came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio continued to emerge as a contender in early 2028 conversations. Mr. Rubio earned 35 percent of the vote at CPAC this year, a leap from his 3 percent in 2025. The poll, which came as CPAC wrapped up its annual four-day conference featuring a deeply conservative grass-roots crowd, is unscientific and has not historically been a strong predictor of whom Republican voters will ultimately back in a contested primary. President Trump easily won three straw polls in the years preceding his comeback victory in 2024. But Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky won the CPAC poll in three consecutive years ahead of the 2016 primary, then went on to drop out early in that campaign. And former Senator Mitt Romney of Utah won straw polls in 2007 and 2008 over the eventual nominee that election cycle, former Senator John McCain of Arizona. Mr. Romney won two straw polls in the lead-up to his successful primary bid in 2012, but lost two to former Representative Ron Paul, Rand Paul’s father. No other candidate on Saturday received more than 2 percent of support from the more than 1,600 respondents, which organizers at CPAC said was a record for a nonpresidential year. These were the results for the rest of the field: Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida: 2 percent Donald Trump Jr.: 2 percent Senator Ted Cruz of Texas: 1 percent Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: 1 percent Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas: 1 percent Representative Rand Paul of Kentucky: 1 percent Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence: 1 percent On a day when several speakers supportive of the Iran war took the stage, including Mr. Cruz and Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah of Iran, CPAC leaders presented the results of their poll as a rebuttal to narratives that the MAGA movement was divided over the war and support for Israel. Related Content Advertisement