Secretary of State Marco Rubio has surged past Vice President JD Vance as the current favorite for the Republican Party's 2028 presidential nomination, a recent national poll from AtlasIntel found.
The survey, which was conducted between May 4 and 7, showed that Rubio received 45.4% of the support.
Vance, in turn, is supported by 29.6% those surveyed as their favorite candidate, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is in third place, at 11.2%.
However, 10.3% said that they would not vote for any of the named options, which also included Vivek Ramaswamy, Greg Abbott, Tim Scott, Brian Kemp, and Donald Trump Jr.
This represents a swing since December's poll, when Vance led with 46.7%, and Rubio trailed at 22.6%.
Rubio's surge follows a period of intense diplomatic activity
Rubio has recently engaged in high-stakes negotiations regarding the war in Ukraine, spearheaded new sanctions against the Cuban regime, and played a role in navigating diplomacy with Iran during the recent blockades of Operation Project Freedom.
"Who likes JD Vance? Who likes Marco Rubio? It sounds like a dream team to me!" US President Donald Trump quipped during a Rose Garden event at the White House on Monday, contributing to the Rubio momentum.
While Rubio leads the primary field, his standing with the broader electorate remains a hurdle. He currently holds a 46% positive and 51% negative favorability rating among the general public.
AtlasIntel was rated the most accurate pollster of the 2020 and 2024 US election cycles.
Majority of poll respondents opposed US strikes on Iran during Op. Epic Fury
The poll also queried respondents' views towards the US strikes on Iran as part of Operation Epic Fury, beginning on February 28.
Out of those surveyed, 59.2% said that they opposed the decision to launch strikes, while 38.9% supported it.
However, 45.6% believe that the death of former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is a positive development, while 15.5% said it was a negative development. Meanwhile, 31.8% said it was neither positive nor negative, and 7.1% said they did not know.
Additionally, 67.8% of those surveyed believe that the strikes increase the likelihood of terror attacks against US citizens, while 11.5% said it decreased the risk posed.
A majority, at 58.5%, said that they believe the strikes increased Iran's motivation to develop nuclear weapons, while 18% said they think it decreased the Islamic regime's motivation, and 13% said they believe it had no effect.
Further, 33.8% said they believe the strikes had no effect on Iran's capacity to develop nuclear weapons, while 27.6% said they believe it "significantly compromised" the regime's ability, 21.7% said it "somewhat compromised" their ability, and 8.6% said they believe it "completely eliminated" Iran's capacity to develop nuclear weapons. A far lower 3.7% said that they believe it increased Iran's capacity to develop nuclear weaponry.
The survey also found that over half of those surveyed, at 55.3%, believe that Israel had "a lot of influence" on the US's decision to strike Iran, bolstered by an additional 13.9% who believe Israel had "quite a bit of influence" on the matter.
This contrasts with the 23.9% who believe that Israel had "not that much influence," and the 4.8% who believe that Israel had "no influence at all" on the Trump administration's decision.