Chris Cillizza, a political contributor for NewsNation, said in a recent live stream on his YouTube channel that Vice President JD Vance is a strong candidate for president in 2028 and that Democrats are underestimating him “at their own peril.”
Last week, an Emerson College poll showed that Vance was liked by 46% of people, which was more than any other Republican or Democrat, including those who might run for president in 2028.
Cillizza said that the poll results on X confirmed his belief that Democrats don’t understand “Vance’s appeal.” He said this again during his live stream.
Cillizza said, “I’m pretty bullish on JD Vance.” “I think Democrats are underestimating JD Vance, which I think they are.”
Harry Enten, CNN’s chief data analyst, said recently that Vance looked like he had a good chance of getting the Republican presidential nomination in 2028.
Enten said that Vance had a big lead in early polls and that sitting vice presidents have a good track record when they run for their party’s nomination.
Enten said, “Look, this is early polling, but for the GOP nomination, it’s JD Vance at 40 percent.” “There’s no one even close to him.”
“Remember that 63 percent of the time, early favorites have gone on to win the nomination since 1980,” Enten said.
A straw poll at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest showed that grassroots conservatives strongly supported JD Vance as a possible presidential candidate in 2028.
Vance got 84.2% of the votes, which is much more than any other possible Republican candidate.
According to the poll results, Secretary of State Marco Rubio came in second with 4.8%, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came in third with 2.9%, and Donald Trump Jr. came in fourth with 1.8%.
On X, Blake Neff, producer of the “Charlie Kirk Show,” said, “JD Vance won the 2028 nomination straw poll by more than Donald Trump won the 2024 one we did two years ago.” Two years ago, President Trump got 82.6% of the vote, and DeSantis got 7.6%.
Vance was the last person to speak at the AmericaFest event in Phoenix. Before he spoke, Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk said things that those who were there took as an endorsement of Vance for president in 2028.
The country’s second-highest elected official has been leading early polls among possible Republican candidates for the 2028 presidential election. He has said in public, though, that he is not currently thinking about running for president in the future.
“We’re going to win the midterms.” When asked about his plans for 2028 earlier this month, Vance told Fox News’ “Hannity,” “We’re going to do everything we can to win the midterms.” “And then I’m going to sit down with the president of the United States and talk to him about it.”
Still, that doesn’t stop him from sometimes going after possible Democratic opponents for 2028.
Vance said during his AmericaFest speech on Sunday, “Democrats are already talking about 2028, and it looks like they’re going to nominate a California liberal who has overseen rolling blackouts, open borders, and violent gangs that are out of control.” “They’re just trying to decide if it’s going to be Kamala Harris or Gavin Newsom.”
Trump hasn’t picked a possible successor yet, since the next presidential election isn’t for three years. The straw poll results show that the president still has a lot of support from grassroots conservative activists.
Erika, who took over as head of the organization after her husband was killed, appeared on stage at the Phoenix Convention Center last month to officially support Vance’s expected run for the White House. This was nearly two months after the two shared a hug that went viral.
“We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible,” she told thousands of activists in a video of her speech that was posted online.
There was a lot of applause after the announcement.
If he does run, Turning Point USA could help him a lot.
The nonprofit has become a major force in MAGA politics and organizing conservative youth. It has a large campus network, a wide digital reach, and the ability to get activists to work for candidates.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
