If the 2028 Republican primary took place at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest this weekend, Vice President JD Vance would be the Republican nominee in a no-contest election.
Vance won in a landslide in the TPUSA straw poll, taking about 85% of the vote from attendees of the group’s annual convention in Arizona. Coming in behind him was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who received 5% of the straw poll vote.
Vance won the AmericaFest poll by about three percentage points more than President Donald Trump received in the 2023 straw poll.
The TPUSA straw poll from AmFest is out. Thread.
JD Vance won the 2028 nomination straw poll by more than Donald Trump won the 2024 one we did two years ago. pic.twitter.com/86uJLg3VE2
— Blake Neff (@BlakeSNeff) December 22, 2025
The poll findings align with what The Daily Wire heard from attendees, who, across the board, said they would back Vance as the 2028 nominee.
The Daily Wire also asked college students at AmFest if they would support Vance as the 2028 nominee. All of those who were asked said they would.
“Is the grass green?” Nickolas Peter said, asking if he was excited about the vice president. “JD Vance represents the greatest conservative movement in over 40 years. One that prioritizes Main Street over Wall Street, one that prioritizes the exceptional American culture.”
The AmFest crowd erupted in cheers when Vance took the stage, interrupting him with chants of his name and “U.S.A.”
NOW: The crowd goes WILD for Vice President JD Vance. “JD, JD, JD” pic.twitter.com/uQYFexBOye
— Brecca Stoll (@breccastoll) December 21, 2025
Vance has stated that he plans to wait until after the 2026 midterm elections to talk to President Trump about a possible presidential run. “I’m very focused on the midterm elections. Then after that, I’m going to sit down with the president of the United States and talk to him about it.”
The vice president has told the American people he is committed to the job he got elected to do. He said Americans are “fed up with folks who are already running for the next job, seven months into the current one.”
He also added that there are a lot of great people on the Republican and national side, so if he ended up running, it would not be a given that he would win. He has rejected the idea that other potential candidates, including Rubio, are his rivals.
“I don’t feel like that at all…Marco is a colleague,” Vance said. “If Marco eventually runs for president, then we can cross that bridge when we come to it…it’s a long ways in the future.”
In the meantime, Vance says, “I’m going to try to do my best job, and I think if I do that, the politics will figure itself out.”
The AmFest polling also found that nearly nine out of ten conference attendees view Israel as an ally, believe the biggest threat to the United States is radical Islam, and widely support the job being done by Trump’s cabinet. The most popular cabinet members, according to the straw poll, are Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, and Kristi Noem, who each have over 90% approval from the AmFest crowd.