Politico, leaning entirely on the results of a focus group consisting of nine (count 'em, NINE) people has been able to somehow determine what they see as a big political trend out there reflected in the title of this story on Friday by Samuel Benson, "These Gen-Z Trump voters don’t want JD Vance in 2028."
The subtitle reinforces what looks to be a dire (as projected by Politico based on the focus group NINE) political future for Vance: "A recent focus group of 18- to 24-year-old Trump voters suggests weaknesses for Vance among young Republicans."
Benson presents his case of supposed lackluster support for Vance based on NINE focus group people:
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.
Is this not convincing? Mr. Benson didn't rely on a mere three or four people to conjure up that Vance was in big political trouble. Nope. He went for a scientific sample of NINE whole people. And who chose those young people to be sampled? Well, Benson does mention in passing the focus group was conducted by Longwell Partners and then that name disappears into the ether never to return to the story.
It takes less than a minute of checking on the web to find out that the "Longwell" in Longwell Partners is Sarah Longwell, the President and CEO of Longwell Partners. A few more seconds and keyboard taps later reveals that Sarah Longwell is also the publisher of the Never Trumper website, The Bulwark. And finally, if Benson had taken just a few more moments of journalism in action, he would have easily discovered that Longwell has gone way beyond merely a Never Trumper to a virulently anti-Trump actor with George Conway levels of TDS. Two weeks ago, she was on a Bulwark podcast after Renee Good was shot titled "JD Vance Hopes Your Eyes Don't Work."
However, since Samuel Benson seems to think that something of value can be gleamed by analyzing NINE focus group members chosen by someone with a great animus towards Trump, let us play along with the fantasy for now:
“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 Trump’s handling of the Epstein files, “because JD Vance was also pushing that as well.”
Fringe comedic benefit: Not only do we get to somehow draw conclusions from NINE focus group members chosen by a Trump hater but those same members are anonymously identified only by first names and the initials of their last names. And now some more input from the initials:
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.”
Please don't think that Samuel Benson's report is utterly worthless due to the laughable size of the focus group as well as the ulterior motives of who chose that group. What Benson's story inadvertently revealed is that the Republican presidential candidate that both Democrats and Never Trumpers fear most in 2028 is ...JD Vance.
