Vice President JD Vance is the Trump administration’s unofficial envoy to Gen Z. But young Trump supporters may not be all that enamored with him as they weigh their 2028 options.
In a focus group of nine young men who supported Trump in 2024, conducted Monday by Longwell Partners and shared with POLITICO, they showed tepid enthusiasm about the vice president and suggested he is too bridled by the baggage of Trump's second term.
“I feel like it's just time for someone new, especially for the Republican Party,” said Alexandre M., a voter in Maryland, who raised concerns about Trumps’s handling of the Epstein files, “because JD Vance was also pushing that as well.”
When the 18- to 24-year-olds were asked who else they would like to see as potential candidates in 2028, they named Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback. When the moderator asked who wants to see Vance as the GOP nominee, just one of the nine raised their hand — and even he later signaled he is still unsure of his support.
Others in the group raised concerns about electability as well as Vance’s changing views.
“I don’t think Vance can win, because I think he's too connected to the current political establishment in Washington, which I think has a very negative approval rating right now,” said Sam Z., a voter in Minnesota. “If you look at what he was about in 2018, 2019, 2020, and you look at what he's about now, it's very, very different. … Somebody younger running in office would be awesome. So that's the one thing I wouldn't mind for Vance. But overall, I just don't think [he] can win. I think he's kind of flip-flopped on a lot of issues.”
The one voter who said he’d be open to Vance in 2028 said he liked Vance’s experience. “I think because he already is a VP, like he has more experience than most people will, which puts him at an advantage,” said Ruben T., a voter in Georgia.
Vance wasn’t the only topic where these voters split from the traditional party line.
Asked about U.S. support for Israel, five said they felt the U.S. supports Israel too much and four said the right amount. None said too little.
Some mentioned conspiracy theories — like Candace Owens’ assertion that Charlie Kirk was assassinated by the Israeli government — for steering their belief that the U.S. should support Israel less.
“I don't know how factual some of this stuff is, but after seeing a lot of things after Charlie Kirk's death and with Candace Owens’ private investigation, I kind of started to notice of, like, Israel was kind of always a big talking point with the Republicans,” said Richard B., a voter in Pennsylvania. “I personally have an issue with it.”
Some of them spoke in free-speech terms, through a humanitarian lens or from an America First perspective. “I just don't believe that death is justifiable in any way, and of course, Israel is responsible for many deaths,” Matteo R. in Illinois said.
“I think we should be more focused on eliminating problems that we have in our own country, versus one that's pretty far across the world,” said Sam M., a voter in New Mexico.
That domestic-first approach applied to Trump’s flirtations with Greenland. When asked, “Who would like to see the U.S. buy Greenland?” none raised their hands.
“No other president has ever said that,” said Mukeesh S., in California. “It's been part of Denmark. I think we should just respect it and leave it, and focus on what's actually happening inside the nation.”
Dillon, a voter from Rhode Island, added: “I think it's kind of an unnecessary thing to do right now, and it's not what our resources could best be used on.”
