Official CPAC USA 2026 Straw Poll Results

In partnership with McLaughlin & Associates, CPAC is excited to release the Straw Poll results held during CPAC USA 2026.

Based on the Straw Poll CPAC Attendee Survey conducted from March 25th to 28th, 2026, these are the polling results for each category:

2028 Republican primary election for President:

• J.D. Vance: 53%

• Marco Rubio: 35%

• Ron DeSantis: 2%

• Donald Trump, Jr.: 2%

• Ted Cruz: 1%

• Pete Hegseth: 1%

• Rand Paul: 1%

• Tulsi Gabbard: 1%

• Greg Abbott: 1%

• Undecided: 3%

Favorite member of Donald Trump's Cabinet:

• Marco Rubio: 42%

• Pete Hegseth: 14%

• Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: 8%

• Scott Bessent: 6%

• Tulsi Gabbard: 5%

• Pam Bondi: 3%

• Doug Burgum: 3%

• Brooke Rollins: 3%

• John Ratcliffe: 3%

• Sean Duffy: 2%

• Linda McMahon: 1%

• Kelly Loeffler: 1%

• Scott Turner: 1%

• Don't Know: 9%

Second-favorite member of Donald Trump's Cabinet:

• Pete Hegseth: 21%

• Marco Rubio: 18%

• Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: 10%

• Scott Bessent: 9%

• Tulsi Gabbard: 6%

• Pam Bondi: 6%

• Brooke Rollins: 4%

• Doug Burgum: 3%

• Linda McMahon: 2%

• John Ratcliffe: 2%

• Sean Duffy: 2%

• Scott Turner: 2%

• Kelly Loeffler: 2%

• Don't Know: 5%

Approve or disapprove of the job that Donald Trump is doing as President:

• Approve: 96% (Strongly: 84%, Somewhat: 12%)

• Disapprove: 4% (Somewhat: 3%, Strongly: 1%)

• Unsure: 1%

Approve or disapprove of the job that J.D. Vance is doing as Vice President of the United States:

• Approve: 92% (Strongly: 78%, Somewhat: 14%)

• Disapprove: 6% (Somewhat: 4%, Strongly: 2%)

• Unsure: 2%

Approve or disapprove of the job that Mike Johnson is doing as Speaker of the House of Representatives:

• Approve: 84% (Strongly: 55%, Somewhat: 29%)

• Disapprove: 9% (Somewhat: 6%, Strongly: 3%)

• Unsure: 8%

Approve or disapprove of the job John Thune is doing as the Senate Majority Leader:

• Approve: 57% (Strongly: 29%, Somewhat: 29%)

• Disapprove: 29% (Somewhat: 15%, Strongly: 14%)

• Unsure: 14%

Agree or disagree that Donald Trump has been the best President in my lifetime:

• Agree: 94% (Strongly: 80%, Somewhat: 14%)

• Disagree: 5% (Somewhat: 3%, Strongly: 2%)

• Unsure: 1%

Most articulate leftist:

• Gavin Newsom: 14%

• Zohran Mamdani: 14%

• Adam Schiff: 6%

• Gretchen Whitmer: 5%

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: 4%

• Ilhan Omar: 4%

• Nancy Pelosi: 4%

• Chuck Schumer: 4%

• Hakeem Jeffries: 4%

• J.B. Pritzker: 3%

• Eric Swalwell: 3%

• John Fetterman: 2%

• Kamala Harris: 2%

• Rashida Talib: 2%

• Josh Shapiro: 1%

• Other: 2%

• Unsure: 19%

• None: 6%

Texas Republican Primary runoff for U.S. Senate (Among Texas Voters):

• Ken Paxton: 67%

• John Cornyn: 21%

• Unsure: 12%

Texas Republican Primary runoff for Attorney General (Among Texas Voters):

• Mayes Middleton: 87%

• Chip Roy: 7%

• Unsure: 6%

President Trump’s use of tariffs:

• Approve: 91% (Strongly: 69%, Somewhat: 22%)

• Disapprove: 7% (Somewhat: 4%, Strongly: 3%)

• Unsure: 2%

President Donald Trump’s decision to use military force in Iran:

• Approve: 89% (Strongly: 70%, Somewhat: 19%)

• Disapprove: 8% (Somewhat: 4%, Strongly: 4%)

• Unsure: 3%

President Trump arresting Venezuelan Dictator Nicolas Maduro:

• Approve: 92% (Strongly: 75%, Somewhat: 16%)

• Disapprove: 6% (Somewhat: 4%, Strongly: 1%)

• Unsure: 3%

Helping Republicans maintain the majority in the House and Senate should be the most important political goal:

• Agree: 93% (Strongly: 75%, Somewhat: 18%)

• Disagree: 4% (Somewhat: 3%, Strongly: 1%)

• Unsure: 3%

Conservative leaders/influencers are creating unnecessary controversy and division in the MAGA movement:

• Agree: 88% (Strongly: 62%, Somewhat: 26%)

• Disagree: 8% (Somewhat: 5%, Strongly: 3%)

• Unsure: 4%

Israel continues to be one of the United States’ most important strategic allies:

• Agree: 85% (Strongly: 60%, Somewhat: 25%)

• Disagree: 11% (Somewhat: 6%, Strongly: 5%)

• Unsure: 4%

American Conservatives should be helping to promote and elect pro-American Conservative leaders throughout the world:

• Agree: 91% (Strongly: 66%, Somewhat: 25%)

• Disagree: 6% (Somewhat: 4%, Strongly: 2%)

• Unsure: 4%

How did you FIRST hear about CPAC:

• Word of Mouth: 26%

• Cable News Networks: 21%

• Social Media: 16%

• Internet: 16%

• Real America's Voice (War Room): 8%

• Ads/Commercials: 6%

• Unsure: 8%

Best way to fight against woke elites:

• Investing in Conservative Grassroots Efforts: 55%

• Investing in the National Republican Party: 15%

• Developing Policies at Think Tanks: 13%

• None/Other: 6%

• Unsure: 12%

Cable News outlet trusted the most:

• Fox News: 37%

• Newsmax: 27%

• News Nation: 8%

• MSNBC: 3%

• CNN: 2%

• None: 16%

• Don't Know: 6%

View the full results on CPAC.org/StrawPoll.