First son Donald Trump Jr. has not completely ruled out launching a 2028 presidential campaign. But speculation is brewing that he could be positioning himself as a dark-horse candidate before primary jockeying picks up.Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are the heavy favorites to be frontrunners in the race if they eventually launch presidential campaigns. Yet there is some indication that Republican voters are receptive to President Donald Trump’s eldest son.A 2026 Conservative Political Action Conference poll showed Trump Jr. tied in third place with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) at 2%. Vance won the poll at 53%, and Rubio came in second at 25%.
A RealClearPolitics composite of 2028 polling also shows Trump Jr. in third place, averaging 10.4% support, behind Vance at 38.6% and Rubio at 21.9%.
Trump Jr. has said he’s not interested in following in his father’s footsteps. “I’ve always said, while I’ll never 100% rule it out down the line, I have ZERO interest in running for office in 28 or anytime soon,” he wrote on X last month.
But much could change between now and the primaries. Vance and Rubio still have two more years to navigate tumult in the Trump administration, currently bogged down by the Iran war. They’ll also need to contend with the president’s continued grip on the Republican Party, even as his approval rating sinks. A recent Fox News poll found that 80% of Republican voters approve of Trump’s presidency, while nearly three-quarters of GOP voters support the Iran war.
