JD Vance Remains Republicans’ Top Pick For 2028
Republicans and right-leaning independents still like Vice President JD Vance the best for the next presidential primary, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved up in a new Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll.
The poll asked 952 Republicans and 225 independents who lean Republican from all over the country to choose from 15 well-known conservative politicians or to pick “someone else” or “not sure.”
The current vice president, Vance, was the clear winner, with 36% of people choosing him. He got almost twice as many votes as Donald Trump Jr., who came in second with 19%. Another 14% said they weren’t sure, bringing the total to 70% of all respondents.
But both Vance and Trump Jr. lost some support since a similar October Voters’ Voice Poll. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on the other hand, gained ground.
Rubio only got 9% of the vote, but he was the third choice on the list and the second most popular candidate among independent voters.
This comes as President Trump asked a group of donors at his Mar-a-Lago estate for their thoughts about Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“What do you think of JD Vance and Marco Rubio?” Trump asked, the Wall Street Journal reported.
According to sources who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, donors applauded loudly for Rubio. The applause for Rubio was reportedly louder than the reaction for Vance. The informal poll came one day after Trump placed Rubio prominently in the administration’s public posture.
Trump noted Monday during a press conference in Florida that Vance had been “less enthusiastic” about going to war with Iran. Trump also described differences in the way the two men approach politics and diplomacy.
“He gets a little bit tough on occasion; we gotta slow him down on occasion,” Trump said about Vance.
Trump then contrasted that approach with Rubio’s style.
“Then we have the opposite extreme,” Trump said.
“Marco does it with a velvet glove. But it’s a kill,” Trump said.
Despite the strong reaction from donors, a recent poll suggests Vance may hold greater influence among voters.
A survey conducted by the Daily Mail and JL Partners between March 2 and March 3 asked voters which figures have the most influence in Trump’s inner circle.
Vance led the poll with 19 percent. Rubio received 12 percent. Stephen Miller and Donald Trump Jr. were tied for third place. The poll surveyed 1,020 registered voters and had a margin of error of 3.1 percent.
The same survey found Rubio’s approval rating declined from 40 percent in February to 36 percent on Friday.
Thirty four percent of respondents said they disapproved of Rubio. Seventeen percent said they were neutral.
Fourteen percent said they were unsure.
Both Vance and Rubio have rejected suggestions that they are rivals. Vance addressed the issue during a February interview with Fox News.
“Marco is my closest friend in the administration,” Vance said.
“I think it’s so interesting the media wants to create this conflict where there just isn’t any conflict,” Vance said.
Rubio also addressed speculation about a possible 2028 presidential race. Rubio told Vanity Fair last year that if Vance runs for president in 2028 he would support him.
“If he runs for president in 2028, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him,” Rubio said.
Trump Admin Says It Uncovered $10 Billion Obamacare Fraud Scheme
The Trump administration says it has uncovered what it describes as a massive fraud scheme within the Affordable Care Act.
Members of Trump’s administration allege that roughly $10 billion in taxpayer money was improperly paid out between 2021 and 2024 because of weakened enrollment safeguards under former President Joe Biden.
According to a Department of Health and Human Services report, officials have already removed nearly three million fraudulent or improper Obamacare enrollments and estimate another 2.6 million questionable enrollments remain.
Administration officials say the findings are part of a broader government-wide effort to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse across federal programs.
The report traces the alleged problems to changes made during the Biden administration that expanded enrollment opportunities while relaxing income verification and eligibility checks.
At the start of Biden’s presidency, approximately 10 million people were enrolled through the Affordable Care Act exchanges. By 2024, enrollment had surged to roughly 22 million.
Federal investigators now believe millions of those enrollments were improper, fraudulent, or created without the knowledge of the individuals involved.
“By our estimate, improper, phantom, and fraudulent enrollment peaked at 5.6 million people in 2025,” the report states.
“We estimate 2.6 million improper and phantom enrollments remain, including over 1 million enrollments without a Social Security number.”
According to the report, several different forms of abuse contributed to the alleged fraud.
Officials say some applicants intentionally understated their income to qualify for larger taxpayer-funded subsidies.
Others allegedly received premium assistance despite failing to meet eligibility requirements.
Investigators also identified what they describe as “phantom enrollments,” in which insurance brokers allegedly enrolled people in Obamacare plans without their knowledge to collect federal commissions.
The report argues that reduced verification requirements made those practices significantly easier to carry out.
Since taking office, the Trump administration says it has restored stricter income verification requirements, ended several special enrollment periods, increased screening for duplicate Medicaid enrollment, and launched investigations into brokers suspected of creating phantom policies.
Officials also say they have strengthened oversight of agents participating in the federal marketplace.
As a result of those efforts, nearly three million enrollments have already been removed from the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Even after those removals, approximately 19.2 million people remain enrolled.
The administration says its goal is not to reduce legitimate coverage but to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent only on individuals who actually qualify.
“Preserving the fiscal and programmatic integrity of the ACA Exchanges is key to safeguarding taxpayer-funded resources for those that truly need them,” the report states.
“The federal government paying brokers to enroll individuals without their knowledge is not.”
The report also says the administration will continue pursuing additional enforcement actions against brokers and others accused of exploiting the program.
“The Trump Administration continues to aggressively root out fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption by promulgating new regulations to improve program integrity, investigating suspected improper or fraudulent enrollment, and taking action against agents and brokers committing fraud.”
The findings are likely to reignite debate over the Affordable Care Act and how aggressively eligibility rules should be enforced.
Supporters of the administration argue the report demonstrates that stricter oversight is necessary to protect taxpayers and preserve benefits for those legally entitled to receive them.
Critics of previous verification rollbacks have long warned that loosening enrollment safeguards could increase improper payments and fraud, while supporters of the Biden-era policies argued the changes made healthcare more accessible to eligible Americans, Fox News reported exclusively.
The administration says its investigations remain ongoing, with an estimated 2.6 million additional enrollments still under review as officials continue auditing the federal health insurance exchanges.
Trump has been pushing to replace Obamacare for over a decade, and this may give Republicans enough motivation to actually do something.
