Rubio, Vance Lead Early 2028 GOP Presidential Polls

Early polling of potential 2028 presidential contenders shows Marco Rubio and JD Vance leading Republicans and Jon Ossoff and Pete Buttigieg leading Democrats.

Updated on Nov. 13, 2026 in Elections

Rubio, Vance Lead Early 2028 GOP Presidential Polls

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Do you think the country is heading in the right direction?

Marco Rubio and JD Vance lead early polling of potential 2028 Republican presidential contenders, while Jon Ossoff and Pete Buttigieg lead among potential Democratic contenders. The 2028 presidential election is about two years away.

Why it matters

Early name recognition often shapes which candidates attract donors and staff before primaries begin, so these rankings offer a first look at how the fields could take shape across the country. Analysts expect large fields on both sides that could narrow quickly once voting starts.

The 2028 presidential election is two years away, and analysts project at least a dozen candidates per party at the outset. No candidate has formally announced a campaign, and early name recognition does not guarantee who will run or win.

The players

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio is a Republican U.S. senator from Florida who previously served as Secretary of State and ran for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

JD Vance

JD Vance is the Republican vice president of the United States and a former Ohio senator who rose to prominence through his memoir Hillbilly Elegy.

Jon Ossoff

Jon Ossoff is a Democratic U.S. senator from Georgia who won a closely watched runoff election in 2021.

Pete Buttigieg

Pete Buttigieg is the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

The details

Rubio and Vance have been in the news almost daily for the past two years and are widely framed as the likely successors to the Trump administration. On the Democratic side, Ossoff, who won a competitive Senate race, and Pete Buttigieg, the current Secretary of Transportation, are named as leading figures in the next generation of party leadership, and most of the Democratic list is relatively young.

Over the past two years: Rubio and Vance have been in the news almost daily.
2028: The U.S. presidential election is scheduled.

Political Context

Early 2028 polling follows the pattern of the 2020 Democratic primary, when more than two dozen candidates entered and the field narrowed rapidly after the first contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. Name recognition at this stage has historically been a weak predictor of the eventual nominee.

Early name recognition shapes which candidates attract donors, staff and media attention before voting begins. Voters will see the fields narrow over the coming primary cycle, which will determine the candidates on the general election ballot.

The takeaway

Early polls measure name recognition more than voter commitment, so the early leaders are not guaranteed to be the eventual nominees. Readers should watch how the fields change as candidates announce and as primary contests begin.