Marco Rubio second among Republicans in 2028, while Ron DeSantis is in single digits

New polling of the 2028 GOP Presidential Primary shows Secretary of State Marco Rubio ahead of everyone but Vice President JD Vance, while Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to struggle.

While Rubio (17%) is far behind Vance (43%), no other candidate is in double digits.

Rubio’s share is well ahead of Donald Trump Jr. (9%), DeSantis (6%), former Vice President Mike Pence (4%), Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (3%), declared non-candidate Nikki Haley (3%), U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (2%), podcaster Tucker Carlson (2%), and Vivek Ramaswamy (2%).

The breakdown by age group in the Yale Youth Poll reveals that DeSantis and Rubio are relatively weak among younger voters.

Among the 18-34 cohort, Rubio has just 12% support, while DeSantis’ 6% is 1 point behind Carlson and tied with Kennedy.

While Rubio musters 15% with voters age 35-44, DeSantis’ 6% puts him a point behind Pence.

Yet DeSantis’ weakest group is with those age 45-64, with whom he has 5%. Vance is at 46%.

Among senior citizens, Rubio and DeSantis have their strongest showings, with the former at 20% and the latter at 7%.

Donald Trump Jr. actually trails DeSantis with the older crowd, as he only draws 6% support.

While Rubio and DeSantis have ground to make up against Vance in terms of preference, they are much closer to the VP when it comes to perceived electability,

Across the entire sample, 83% of Republicans see Vance as electable, compared to 76% for Rubio and 74% for DeSantis.

Among voters age 18-34, Vance’s perceived electability falls to 77%, just 2 points ahead of DeSantis’ 75%. Meanwhile, Rubio’s middling 61% puts him behind Cruz and Trump (62%), and ties him with Kennedy.

Yale’s polling also found that if President Donald Trump could run again, he would take 47% of support in Primaries, and he seems to take equally from other candidates. In this hypothetical, Vance falls to 18%, Rubio to 8%, and DeSantis to 4%. That scenario excludes Donald Trump Jr. as an option.

The survey was in the field from March 9-23. That encompasses the early stages of the ongoing conflict with Iran, which certainly could affect polling should the military action and the economic consequences persist.