DENVER — Secretary of State Marco Rubio dominated an early presidential straw poll at the Western Conservative Summit over the weekend, handily outpacing Vice President JD Vance and the rest of a packed field of potential 2028 Republican hopefuls.

The nonpartisan survey, conducted by the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University, drew more than 500 attendees from across the Western United States. When asked to pick their top choice from a list of 27 potential candidates, 57 percent of respondents backed Rubio, compared to just 21 percent for Vance. Former Vice President Mike Pence finished a distant third with 5 percent, followed by Rep. Thomas Massie and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 4 percent each.

In a separate approval question that allowed attendees to select every candidate they approved of, Rubio again topped the field with 85 percent, followed by Vance at 71 percent and DeSantis at 55 percent. Tech billionaire Elon Musk and conservative pundit Tucker Carlson each scored 5 percent, while prominent Democrats fared poorly—former Vice President Kamala Harris garnered 0 percent, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro topped the Democratic field with just 3 percent.

A Symbolic Victory, Not a National Poll

Greg Schaller, director of the Centennial Institute, framed Rubio’s performance as grassroots validation of his conservative record. “Marco Rubio is a leader who has spent his career defending the principles of faith, family, and freedom without wavering,” Schaller said. “Secretary Rubio has earned this trust the hard way, and this Summit’s grassroots are telling him, loud and clear, that they’re behind him”.

However, political analysts caution that the results reflect the preferences of a small, self-selected group of conservative activists attending one Colorado conference—not Republican voters nationally. Recent broader polling has generally shown Vance leading the prospective GOP field, with Rubio emerging as his strongest potential rival.

Neither Candidate Has Declared

Neither Rubio nor Vance has announced a 2028 campaign. Rubio previously told Vanity Fair that he would defer to Vance should the vice president seek the Republican nomination. Vance, meanwhile, has indicated that he will discuss a possible run with his wife, second lady Usha Vance, after the November midterm elections.

President Donald Trump has not formally endorsed a successor, though he has repeatedly discussed the race and suggested that a Vance-Rubio ticket would be formidable. “I don’t know how you beat them if they’re together,” Trump told the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” in June.