While President Donald Trump may seem to be holding an Apprentice-style competition to choose his successor, a new poll shows that voters have a clear favorite.

Vice President JD Vance leads the field, with 46 percent of Republicans supporting him as the party’s 2028 presidential nominee, according to a survey conducted by JL Partners.

Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, is the top choice for just 6 percent of Republican voters, trailing behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 8 percent and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 7 percent.

This comes despite Rubio’s growing prominence, as he juggles expanded responsibilities, including his role as interim National Security Adviser, where he has led several key diplomatic initiatives.

In recent weeks, the president has started publicly promoting Rubio’s potential to appeal to the MAGA base.

“You look at Marco, you look at JD Vance, who’s fantastic,” Trump said during an interview with NBC after he was asked who would inherit his movement after he leaves office in January 2029. “You look at — I could name 10, 15, 20 people right now just sitting here.”

That said, a source familiar with Trump’s thinking on the matter told the UK’s Telegraph that it’s not a priority for the president at the moment.

“No one is even thinking about it at the moment,” said the source. “The only agenda is getting the job done.”

Nevertheless, Vance remains the clear frontrunner. He enjoys strong support within Trump’s base, and his Midwestern roots, along with the popularity of his bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” have helped him resonate with the blue-collar voters who played a pivotal role in the 2024 election victory.

Rubio, a former U.S. senator from Florida and a 2016 presidential contender, represents a different wing of the Republican Party. Once viewed as an establishment figure with hawkish foreign policy views, he has nonetheless earned praise from insiders for how seamlessly he has integrated into the Trump administration, The Telegraph reported.