Vance, Rubio, Ossoff and Buttigieg lead 2028 White House hopefuls, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks at an election night watch party in Detroit on Nov. 3. | REUTERS

Reuters

Nov 12, 2026

WASHINGTON – Four potential contenders in the 2028 race for the White House have caught American voters’ attention with their early jockeying: Republicans JD Vance and Marco Rubio and Democrats Jon Ossoff and Pete Buttigieg, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll.

None of the four has yet formally launched a campaign and the parties’ 2028 nominating contests are more than a year away, leaving plenty of time for new contenders to emerge and for voters’ views to change.

Some 45% of Republican voters polled said they believed Secretary of State Rubio would be an “excellent” presidential candidate, with 43% saying the same of Vice President Vance. Former Transportation Secretary Buttigieg and U.S. Senator Ossoff, of Georgia, each got that rating from 29% of Democratic voters.

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