Vance Would Best All Three Top Democratic Candidates in 2028, Poll Says | The American Spectator

Vice President JD Vance would lead against the three top potential Democratic presidential candidates for the 2028 presidential election, according to a new poll. The poll, released by Emerson College on Friday, showed Vance narrowly ahead in all three hypothetical matchups between him and Pete Buttigieg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Gavin Newsom.

Vance was ahead of Ocasio-Cortez and Newsom by 3 points each. Against Ocasio-Cortez, Vance held 44 percent support against her 41 percent, whereas Vance had 45 percent against Newsom’s 41 percent support.

The hypothetical race against Buttigieg had the closest margin, with 44 percent backing Vance to Buttigieg’s 43 percent. This far out, a large number of respondents were predictably undecided, ranging from 13 to 15 percent in each of the races.

All three of these Democratic candidates have fueled speculation about their potential runs in 2028. While Newsom recently toured South Carolina, a pivotal early Democratic primary state, Ocasio-Cortez has joined Bernie Sanders to fly in private jets across the nation for their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. Meanwhile, Buttigieg has passed up on a relatively open Senate seat race in Michigan, clearing his path for a potential presidential campaign instead.

Vance, the most obvious successor to President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, already appears to be the clear front-runner for the 2028 Republican presidential primary. Vance’s strongest potential rival for the position, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, dismissed a potential 2028 run and backed Vance in an interview over the weekend. When asked about 2028, Rubio said, “Well I think JD Vance would be a great nominee.” He also referred to Vance as one of his “closest friends in politics.”

The new polling only strengthens that possibility by showing that he promises to be a strong contender against a variety of potential Democratic opponents in the general election. While no polling this far out is decisive, there are several reasons to believe this report presents an auspicious sign for Vance’s chances in 2028.

For one thing, the poll respondents were not ardent Trump supporters, but still favored Vance for 2028. Among respondents, Trump’s approval rating was underwater, with 47 percent disapproving compared to 46 approving. More respondents said the Big Beautiful Bill would have a negative impact on their life (39 percent) than a positive impact (33 percent).The poll also asked for respondents’ approval on seven key policy areas, ranging from the economy to the Russia/Ukraine War to deportation policy. Six months into Trump’s second term, Emerson’s 1400 respondents put Trump underwater for every issue.

Not only did Vance appear to surpass the respondents’ views about Trump, the vice president also outperformed respondents’ views of generic Republicans.

While Vance was ahead in all his potential matchups, 44 percent of respondents said they would support Democratic candidates for 2026 midterm Congressional elections, compared to 42 percent who would support Republicans.

The polls present good news for Vance, but they are also an indictment of Democrats, who have failed to mount a compelling resistance to Trump’s movement. As Buttigieg commented in May, “Democrats do not have the best brand around here or in a lot of places. There’s a lot of reasons for that.” According to early polling, Buttigieg would appear to be part of their problem, not their solution.

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