GRAPEVINE, Texas, March 28 (Reuters) – Vice President JD Vance is the Conservative Political Action Conference’s top choice this year for the next U.S. president, according to a straw poll released on Saturday.
About 53% of attendees who voted in the poll at this year’s CPAC convention chose Vance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio came in second with 35% at CPAC, a key gathering for Republican lawmakers, activists and presidential hopefuls.
CPAC, which is holding this year’s event in Grapevine, Texas, draws heavily from the Republican Party’s conservative wing. Its annual straw poll is not necessarily a reliable predictor of the eventual nominee.
But the poll offers a snapshot of where the energy currently lies among core supporters of President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. Trump, currently serving his second term, is not eligible to run again in 2028.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Grapevine, Texas; Editing by Sergio Non and David Gregorio)
Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.
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