Less than half Americans excited for 2028 presidential election, poll finds
With the midterm elections behind us, a recent CNN/SSRS poll shows less than half of Americans are looking forward to the upcoming 2028 presidential election.
In the poll conducted about a month before
the midterms, 40% of respondents said they were “looking forward to” the 2028 presidential contest, while another 27% said they were “dreading” it and 33% said they were “neither” looking forward to nor dreading the race.
Beyond their general feelings about the 2028 presidential contest, 64% of Americans said they did not have a specific person in mind for 2028; as of Nov. 11, no major candidates have declared their intention to run.
The 2028 presidential election will be quite different for an entire generation of Americans, as it will be the first without President Donald Trump’s name on the ballot in more than a decade; the 22nd Amendment bars him from serving another term in the White House.
The poll, conducted Oct. 15-18, surveyed 1,701 respondents with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
Voters show excitement for some candidates
According to CNN/SSRS, about a quarter of Democrat and Democratic-leaning Independent voters said they would be excited to support former Vice President Kamala Harris (27%), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (27%) and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (26%) if they decided to run for president in 2028.
Behind them, Democratic-leaning voters advocated for California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, both at 22%.
Among Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents, two potential candidates were far and away the ones who voters were excited to support, with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both at 41%.
In third was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (23%), with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in fourth (15%).
Trump begins to step back
With Trump off the ballot, the president now says he may step away from the GOP’s presidential primary and not endorse a potential successor.
"We have a tremendous bench. I have so many people that I have great relationships with," Trump said in a Nov. 8 interview on CBS, pointing to Rubio as being "great" in addition to Vance. "But there are many others, and I'd rather not mention their names. There's some senators that are excellent. I know them all. I like them a lot."
"So I may or may not get involved," Trump said. "Maybe I'm better off not getting involved."
USA TODAY’s Joey Garrison contributed to this report.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.