CPAC straw poll reveals who conservatives believe will be 2028 presidential nominee

"You guys are the conservative movement, you guys are the thought leaders, the opinion leaders. We asked folks who they thought would be the Republican nominee, who they preferred for the Republican for president in 2028. And who is it?," Jim McLaughlin, president of McLaughlin & Associates Polls, said Friday from the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Saturday. 

"JD Vance. And why? Because he's viewed as the closest thing to Donald Trump," McLaughlin added, he did not provide additional data on Vance's support among CPAC attendees. 

Steve Bannon, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others were also viewed by the attendees as the potential Republican nominee behind Vance, the full CPAC straw poll results posted to X found. 

The straw poll was conducted among more than 1,000 attendees of the conservative conference, which kicked off on Wednesday and wraps up on Saturday following President Donald Trump's planned speech. 

McLaughlin noted that the straw poll has accurately predicted conservatives' views and voting trends in previous years, including that Trump would win the 2024 primary and general election. 

"You know how I knew Donald Trump was going to win the people in this room? Because when we did the CPAC polls over the years, and you had the mainstream media saying, you know, 'Donald Trump couldn't win again.' Donald Trump was winning overwhelmingly, not by a little bit, overwhelmingly in every single CPAC poll. You guys knew he was going to win the primary. You all knew that he was going to win the general election, no matter what the Democrats threw at us," he said. 

This year's straw poll overwhelmingly focused on Trump's approval ratings since taking office, with a handful of results finding Trump's approval sitting at 99% on various issues. 

"The first few weeks of Donald Trump's presidency have been the best for the modern conservative movement in my lifetime. What do you think about that?" McLaughlin said of one of the poll questions. "Well, 99% agreed with that. Think about that. We don't see 99% numbers."

Trump also earned support for his comments regarding the U.S. potentially establishing a national security and an economic alliance with Greenland. 

"Ninety-three percent of you approve of that, because it just makes sense for economic reasons, for national security reasons," McLaughlin said of Trump's support for establishing an alliance with Greenland. "And by the way, we do a little bit of work over in Europe and whatnot. They also think it's a very good idea. Donald Trump again, being a visionary."