Overview
- CPAC’s activists, in Saturday’s straw poll in Grapevine, Texas, backed JD Vance with 53% and Marco Rubio with 35%, with no other name topping 2%.
- The straw poll is an unscientific gauge, yet it shows Rubio’s sharp rise from roughly 3% last year and signals a two-person narrative among conservative insiders.
- With the Iran campaign in its fifth week, Vance voices caution about a long fight, while Rubio defends the strikes and fronts the administration’s case.
- Reuters reports Trump has privately asked allies “JD or Marco?”, as White House spokesman Steven Cheung publicly rejects any suggestion of favoritism.
- Trump’s approval stands at 36% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll during the Iran war, a backdrop as Vance waits until after the November midterms to decide on 2028 and Rubio says he will not run if Vance does.