The search has already begun for many Republicans to find out who will follow President Donald Trump as the next leader of the MAGA movement and the Republican Party, but they may need to look no further than the current administration to find the answer.

Trump on Tuesday appeared to confirm what many have long suspected, that Vice President JD Vance is "most likely" to be his successor in 2028, Breitbart reported.

The president also seemed to raise the possibility of a GOP ticket involving Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, though he did acknowledge that it was still "too early" for the matter to be fully discussed, much less settled.

Trump: Vance "most likely" the MAGA "heir apparent"

On Tuesday, President Trump held a press conference to announce the establishment of a special Task Force to manage the upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, after which he took questions from the gathered media, including Fox News reporter Peter Doocy.

"You said this morning that you probably won’t be running for a third term. This weekend, Secretary of State Rubio said that he thought JD Vance would be a great nominee," Doocy said. "You could clear the entire Republican field right now -- do you agree, that the heir apparent to MAGA is JD Vance?"

"Well, I think most likely, in all fairness. He’s the vice president," Trump replied. "I think Marco is also somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form."

"I also think we have incredible people, some of the people on this stage right here," he added with a gesture toward the assembled task force. "So it's too early, obviously, to talk about it. But certainly, he's doing a great job, and he would be probably favored at this point."

🚨 BREAKING: President Trump all-but clears the GOP 2028 presidential primary field, says JD VANCE is LIKELY the favorite.

DOOCY: Do you agree the heir apparent to MAGA is JD VANCE?

TRUMP: "I think MOST LIKELY. He's the VP. Marco maybe would get together with JD...We have… pic.twitter.com/WL8QzqDAjq

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 5, 2025

Vance leading all of the 2028 GOP polls

President Trump is correct that VP Vance is the heavily favored frontrunner for the 2028 GOP nomination at this early stage, more than three years ahead of the next election, as is evidenced by virtually all of the polls conducted on that subject to this point.

In February, just one month after taking office, Vance was the decisive victor of the Conservative Political Action Conference's (CPAC) straw poll, with 61% support, beating out former Trump strategist and podcaster Steve Bannon with 12% and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with 7%.

That domination of the likely Republican primary competition in 2028 has continued for Vance throughout the year thus far, according to RacetotheWH's national polling average, which has the current vice president at 49.1%.

Rounding out the Top 5 in that average of multiple nationwide polls is the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., at 11.1%, DeSantis at 10.7%, Secretary Rubio at 8.6%, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former Democrat turned independent, at 4.9%.

Vance would beat top three likely Democratic contenders

Given the safe presumption that, at least as of now, VP Vance is the most likely Republican nominee in 2028, Emerson College matched Vance up against three likely frontrunning Democratic candidates in hypothetical matchups, including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Per Emerson's polling results, Vance prevailed over all three possible contenders, including 44-43% over Buttigieg, 44-41% over Ocasio-Cortez, and 45-42% over Newsom, with anywhere from 13-15% of respondents remaining undecided.