Yet another survey shows that for Marco Rubio and Ron DeSantis, the 2028 presidential landscape offers different possibilities.
In the CPAC 2026 straw poll of roughly 1,600 attendees at the Dallas, Texas event, the Secretary of State got 35% support, putting him in a strong second place behind Vice President JD Vance.
Far behind: the Florida Governor, whose 2% tied him for a very distant third place with Donald Trump, Jr.
With just months left in his term, DeSantis continues to elicit questions about his next move. As he said during an event in West Palm Beach on Wednesday, he’s not making any firm commitments to run or stay out of the fray.
“Doing things nationally, all this other stuff; you know, who knows? Things change so fast in this day and age. Two months ago seems like a lifetime ago. Think of all the new things we’re talking about right now with what’s going on in the world and everything just in the last two months. And so who knows how all this stuff evolves?”
Yet for DeSantis and Rubio both, the evolution appears to be ongoing, even when compared to the 2025 straw poll.
Back then, DeSantis had 7% support, while Rubio was the pick of just 3% of respondents.
