Secretary of State Rubio touts ‘significant progress’ towards Iran deal
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “significant” progress had been made in the past 48 hours on securing a potential deal with Iran.
WASHINGTON — A new poll of 2028 Republican primary candidates shows Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s approval ratings soaring while Vice President J.D. Vance falls far behind, a sign of what could be a fierce primary race to replace President Donald Trump.
A new national survey from Emerson College Poll released May 28 shows Vance as the top candidate among Republican voters with 36 percent. But now, statistically, he is tied with Rubio for the lead with 35% of Republican voters surveyed.
This is a significant 15-point increase for Rubio since Emerson’s last poll of Republican candidates in February, while support for Vance as a front-runner has fallen 16 points over the same period.
Far behind Vance and Rubio among the 2028 Republican candidates are Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, both of whom were the top choice of 5% of Republican voters. In the opinion poll, 15% of respondents said they had not decided yet.
The poll, which had a margin of error of 4.7 percentage points, was based on a sample of 432 likely Republican primary voters taken across the country on May 24 and May 25.
Neither Mr. Vance nor Mr. Rubio have officially announced their intention to run for president. Mr. Rubio’s rise comes as he has gained significant prominence within the Trump administration amid the president’s military engagements in Venezuela and Iran. In recent weeks, Mr. Vance has given several speeches and visited the Washington suburbs to tout his administration’s efforts to combat fraud in federal social programs.
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President Trump has mentioned Rubio and Vance as potential successors to lead the MAGA movement, but so far he has not mentioned choosing one over the other. Mr. Trump has openly toyed with running for an unconstitutional third term in 2028, but there are term limits in place for him to run again.
At a dinner he hosted for law enforcement in the White House Rose Garden on May 11, President Trump polled the audience about who should come out on top as the 2028 Republican nominee.
“We have a lot of beautiful people,” President Trump said. “I don’t know, but who will it be? Will it be JD? Will it be someone else?”
Another poll conducted by Mr. Emmerson of likely Democratic voters found former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg leading with 18%, followed by California Governor Gavin Newsom with 16%, making it a close race. New York State Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 11%. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, 10%; Former Vice President Kamala Harris, 10%. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has 9%.
The Democratic poll, conducted over the same period among a sample of 432 likely Democratic primary voters, has a margin of error of 4.7 percentage points.
Consistent with other national polls, the Emerson survey found that President Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 39% and that 55% of Americans disapprove of his performance as president.
X Contact Joey Garrison at @joeygarrison.
