A new poll purports to show Republicans may already have a new favorite for the party’s 2028 presidential nomination.
According to an AtlasIntel survey released Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio now leads the Republican field by a wide margin.
The poll found 45.4 percent of Republican voters picked Rubio as their preferred candidate. Vice President JD Vance came in second with 29.6 percent support.
2028 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES
🔵 AOC: 26% (+10)
🔵 Buttigieg: 22% (+7)
🔵 Newsom: 21% (-14)
🔵 Harris: 13% (+5)
🔵 Beshear: 4%
🔵 Booker: 4%
🔵 Shapiro: 2%
——
🔴 Rubio: 45% (+22)
🔴 Vance: 30% (-17)
🔴 DeSantis: 11% (-2)AtlasIntel (A) | 5/4-7 | A pic.twitter.com/i23Z0t1dGO
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) May 12, 2026
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in third at 11.2 percent.
Another 10.3 percent of Republicans said their preferred candidate was not listed in the poll.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who is currently running for governor of Ohio, received 1.4 percent support.
For months, Vance had largely been viewed as the clear frontrunner to carry President Donald Trump’s movement into the future.
For now, Rubio and his high-profile role seems to have the momentum with a plurality of Republican voters.
The poll also measured how voters viewed the candidates overall.
Among the general public, Rubio had a 46 percent positive rating and a 51 percent negative rating.
Vance performed worse, with 37 percent viewing him positively and 58 percent negatively.
While Republicans have a deep bench of qualified candidates heading into 2028, Democrats appear to be in complete disarray.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York led the Democratic field with 26 percent support.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg followed with 22.4 percent, while California Governor Gavin Newsom came in at 21.2 percent.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris received 12.9 percent support.
New – 2028 president poll
🔵 AOC 26%
🔵 Buttigieg 22%
🔵 Newsom 21%
🔵 Harris 13%
🔵 Beshear 4%
🔵 Booker 4%Atlasintel #A – 5/7 pic.twitter.com/mtTCVzpswG
— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) May 12, 2026
None of the other nine Democrats in the poll broke out of single digits, while 3.1 percent of respondents said they preferred “none of the above.”
Ocasio-Cortez has become one of the leading faces of her party, but her brand of democratic socialism could be a tough sell nationally — especially as the country watches “democratic” socialism fail in New York City under Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Meanwhile, Newsom would almost certainly face questions he might struggle to answer about California’s rising crime, homelessness, and cost-of-living problems after years of mismanaging the state.
Buttigieg, who is an open homosexual, has struggled in the past to connect with black voters, a crucial voting bloc for Democrats.
Harris already had her chance on the national stage in 2024 and lost all seven battleground states in humiliating fashion.
The AtlasIntel poll was conducted May 4-7 and surveyed 2,069 American citizens.
The survey reported a 95 percent confidence level for estimating the margin of error.
You can download and view the AtlasIntel survey in its entirety by clicking here.
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