Rubio, Vance Top Republicans’ 2028 Ratings; Buttigieg and Ossoff Lead for Democrats

A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken after the midterms asked party voters how strong a 2028 candidate each potential contender would be. Marco Rubio and JD Vance rated highest among Republicans; Pete Buttigieg and Jon Ossoff led among Democrats. Here’s what the poll found and how to read it.

By Quinn BallardPublished

As of November 13, 2026. No major candidate has announced a 2028 campaign.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted after the midterms asked Republican and Democratic voters to rate potential 2028 presidential candidates as excellent, good, fair or poor. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance rated highest among Republicans. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff rated highest among Democrats.

This poll measures how voters view each person as a candidate, not whom they’d vote for. A voter can rate several candidates “excellent.”

Republicans

  • Rubio and Vance were close. 45% of Republicans rated Rubio excellent and 23% good, while only 5% rated him poor. For Vance, 43% said excellent and 28% good. Combined, that’s 68% for Rubio and 71% for Vance.
  • DeSantis was third, with 60% rating him excellent or good. Support dropped off after that.
  • Donald Trump Jr. drew the most divided reaction: 38% of Republicans rated him poor, more than rated him excellent or good combined.

Rubio has said he won’t run if Vance does. Vance has said he hasn’t decided and will discuss it with his family. (Our look at the 2028 Republican field.)

Democrats

  • Buttigieg and Ossoff tied for the most “excellent” ratings, at 29% each. Another 27% rated Buttigieg good, and 20% rated Ossoff good. More than 20% of Democrats didn’t rate Buttigieg or said they hadn’t heard of him; for Ossoff, it was more than a third.
  • Kamala Harris was the best known. 23% rated her excellent and 30% good, but 45% rated her fair or poor, the most of any Democrat tested.
  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was rated excellent by 15% and good by 33%.

Background:

  • Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, narrowly won the most state delegate equivalents in the 2020 Iowa caucuses, while Sen. Bernie Sanders won the popular vote there.
  • Ossoff won reelection last week over Republican Rep. Mike Collins by roughly 18 points in unofficial returns. He has said he isn’t interested in running for president in 2028.

How to read it

  • Small samples. The poll surveyed 477 Republican and 538 Democratic registered voters from November 6 to 9, with a margin of error of about 5 points. Differences of a few points between candidates, like Rubio and Vance, aren’t meaningful.
  • Name recognition matters. Better-known candidates tend to get more ratings of every kind. Lesser-known candidates have more room to grow, or to be defined by opponents.
  • It’s early. The first nominating contests are more than a year away.

The same poll found President Trump’s approval rating at 32%, near the lowest of his second term in Reuters/Ipsos polling.

When candidates could start announcing

Presidential candidates often begin announcing in the months after a midterm. Trump announced his 2024 campaign on November 15, 2022, a week after that year’s midterms.

Sources

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