Poll: Ron DeSantis behind RFK Jr. with young Republicans in hypothetical 2028 poll
Image via Never Back Down/X.

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The younger the voter, the more likely they are to back someone else.

Gov. Ron DeSantis would be a nonstarter with young Republicans in a hypothetical 2028 race involving Donald Trump chasing a third term.

And DeSantis wouldn’t do much better if Trump doesn’t run again either, trailing a man who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2024 before leaving the race to back Trump and serve in Trump’s Cabinet.

That’s the takeaway from a new Yale Youth Poll that samples all voters, but oversamples those under the age of 30.

If Trump runs again, DeSantis has 4% support among the younger voters, with the President at 49%, Vice President JD Vance at 21% and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. at 8%.

But even if Trump sits out, DeSantis doesn’t get his younger voters.

Vance has 50% support in that scenario, Kennedy 13% and DeSantis just 6%.

DeSantis is more competitive with Kennedy among all Republican voters.

If Trump ran again, he’d get 56% support among all voters, with Vance at 18% and Kennedy and DeSantis tied at 4%.

If Trump stands down, Vance secures 53% support with all voters, with Kennedy at 9% and DeSantis at 8%.

DeSantis said last year that he hasn’t “ruled anything out” and will “see what the future holds.” But this is the latest in a series of polls where DeSantis struggles.

April’s Echelon Insights survey has him at 9% in a Trump-free field.

In his best performance recently, an April Overton Insights poll shows him at 13% among Republican and Republican-leaning voters and 14% among strictly GOP-registered voters.

YouGov survey in the field from March 30 through April 1 shows that while 8% of Republicans and GOP-leaning respondents back the former 2024 candidate making a second run, 10% of respondents would be disappointed if he were nominated.

A January survey from McLaughlin & Associates had DeSantis at 8%, behind Vance and Donald Trump Jr.

At a straw poll conducted at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, DeSantis mustered 7% support, finishing far behind Vance’s 61% and also behind Steve Bannon, whose 12% support surprised many observers.

According to one survey, DeSantis couldn’t win his home state.

A survey released exclusively to Florida Politics by Fabrizio Lee & Associates shows Vance would defeat the Governor 47% to 33%.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


5 comments

  • ScienceBLVR

    April 15, 2025 at 6:51 pm

    Ouch! Double ouch! RFK has double the support of Dee? Of course, youngsters can be a little crazy until those brains are fully formed in the mid twenties, but shucks that has got to sting..another reason they don’t need weapons at 18.. had to throw that in.

  • Peachy

    April 15, 2025 at 7:15 pm

    Is Nikki Fried putting you up to this Gancarski? She still isn’t going out with you.🤣

  • Michael K

    April 15, 2025 at 9:06 pm

    Not surprised. Ron’s actions and “policies” are all geared to appeal to older, straight, white “Christian” males. He went out of his way to alienate young people with his anti-gay, anti-Black bigotry, his attacks on education, “wokeness” (whatever that is), and cheap political stunts that turn most young people under 30 off. These are the folks who vividly and painfully remember Parkland.

    Those white go-go boots, however, and the cowboy boots did give him a “lift” with older voters.

  • PeterH

    April 16, 2025 at 8:44 am

    ABRAHAM LINCOLN WOULD BE APPALLED The Republican Party needs to be completely destroyed before it can be rebuilt from the ground up.
    REPUBLICANS are America’s worst enemy! Vote all Republicans out of office!

  • Fun fact

    April 21, 2025 at 3:58 pm

    Some real,, some not so realistic
    But the war against white men is happening. And turning our lives upside down…
    Attitudes stink … Stinky Stinky stinky..

Comments are closed.


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