JD Vance Scores Dominant Win in AmFest’s 2028 Straw Poll, Beats Trump’s 2024 Mark
The Turning Point USA AmericaFest 2025 straw poll shows Vice President J.D. Vance as the dominant favorite for the 2028 Republican nomination, outperforming how strongly Donald Trump polled at the same event in 2024. Vance leads well ahead of other potential contenders such as Marco rubio, Ron DeSantis, Glenn Youngkin, Ted Cruz and even donald trump Jr. The poll also found widespread approval for several Trump administration cabinet figures – with names like Pete Hegseth, Robert F.Kennedy Jr., and Kristi Noem earning strong approval ratings – while Attorney General Pam Bondi drew the only double-digit “strongly disapprove” numbers. Respondents ranked voter integrity as the top issue, showed broad support for an immigration moratorium, and identified “radical Islam” as the primary threat to the United States; few expressed concern about the country’s low birthrate. On Israel, an overwhelming majority (about 86.7%) viewed it as an ally or the top U.S. ally, while roughly 13.3% said it was not an ally. the poll is presented as a snapshot of conservative grassroots sentiment heading into the post‑Trump 2028 jockeying.
It’s not exactly a secret that the Republican Party is headed for a new frontier in 2028.
President Donald Trump — the man who the GOP has effectively coalesced around save for a few notable exceptions — will be leaving office after being termed out.
That leaves a gaping power vacuum that multiple big names will compete to fill.
Chief among those big names? Vice President J.D. Vance — and that’s not just conjecture.
The Turning Point USA AmericaFest 2025 straw poll is a fairly good representation of how the conservative grassroots are leaning, and it paints a fascinating — and dominating — picture:
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
As TPUSA’s Blake Neff wrote, “JD Vance won the 2028 nomination straw poll by more than Donald Trump won the 2024 one we did two years ago.”
That’s huge considering Trump’s dominant 2024 general election performance, which saw him pick up every single swing state.
Vance is way ahead of potential competitors, including conservative heavyweights like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
But perhaps most interestingly, Vance is also well ahead of Donald Trump Jr., who some had pegged as a possible VP nomination for Vance should he run for president in 2028.
NEW UNANIMOUS STRAW POLL: 2028 PRESIDENTIAL REPUBLICAN NOMINEE?
“Drum roll please – of course, @JDVance.” @Peoples_Pundit explains the “this has never happened” moment about widespread agreement from the base @TPUSA.@AndrewKolvet pic.twitter.com/BEAjKK9DaI
— Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) December 22, 2025
Neff also d some more fascinating findings of the straw poll.
Trump’s Cabinet is very popular. Pam Bondi is the only member to have disapproval in the double digits, with about 29% having a negative view. pic.twitter.com/sa1cJfpv2T
— Blake Neff (@BlakeSNeff) December 22, 2025
One interesting finding was that “Trump’s Cabinet is very popular.”
Trump administration stars like Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Department of Homeland Secretary Secretary Kristi Noem all had “strongly approve” ratings over 70 percent.
In fact, the only member of the Cabinet who had double-digit “strongly disapprove” ratings was Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The straw poll voters found the biggest issue to be voter integrity, believed that an overwhelming majority support an immigration moratorium, and said that radical Islam is the No. 1 threat to America.
(Neff noted that “very few people” were concerned about America’s catastrophically low birthrate — but “They should be!”)
The most interesting finding, however, had to do with perhaps the most divisive online issue for conservatives: Israel.
The poll asked a question about how attendees view Israel. Despite a lot of noise online (and some on-stage), only 13% believe that Israel is not an ally of the United States. pic.twitter.com/ANH6RWk10F
— Blake Neff (@BlakeSNeff) December 22, 2025
The straw poll found that 86.7 percent of respondents saw Israel as either an ally or America’s top ally.
A mere 13.3 percent found Israel not to be an ally.
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