Vice President JD Vance handily defeated Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) across seven battleground states in a theoretical presidential election matchup, according to a poll exclusively obtained by Breitbart News.

Plymouth Union Public Research conducted a poll across Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — seven key battleground states that could decide if Republicans would hold the White House after President Donald Trump wraps up his second term in office.

Across seven battleground states, 51 percent of likely voters said they would prefer to vote for Vance, while 49 percent would vote for Newsom. The survey found that Vance won the election in five out of the seven swing states. It also found that Vance is winning Democrats at a higher clip, or nine percent, than Newsom is winning Republicans, or seven percent.

2025_9.3_PUP-Memo by Breitbart News

When polling presidential candidates, 27 percent of voters had a very favorable image of the vice president and a 21 percent favorable view of Newsom. On the obverse side, 45 percent of voters had a negative view of him, giving Vance a three percent net positive image.

In contrast to the vice president, 16 percent of voters had a very favorable view of the governor of California, 21 percent had a somewhat favorable view of him, 25 percent had never heard of the leader of the Golden State, while 14 percent had a somewhat negative view of him, and 24 percent had a very unfavorable image of Newsom.

Other potential Democrat presidential candidates’ favorability includes:

• Forty-nine percent of likely voters have a favorable view of former Vice President Kamala Harris, while 46 percent have a negative image of her.
• Forty-three percent have a positive image of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), while 37 percent have a negative view; however, 20 percent have never heard of Walz, who was Harris’s vice presidential candidate.
• Thirty-nine percent of voters had a positive view of former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, while 32 percent have a negative image. Thirty percent of voters have not heard of him.
• Thirty-nine percent of voters have a positive view of Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) and 25 percent have a bad image of him, and 36 percent have not heard of the leader of the Keystone State.

The poll was conducted after Trump said that Vance could “most likely” be the “heir apparent” to lead the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

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

An Emerson College poll released in July found that Vance could beat Newsom and other potential Democrat presidential candidates, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Pete Buttigieg.

Vance also handily won the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Republican presidential candidate straw poll.

The survey found that roughly two-thirds of those polled backed President Trump’s “America First Investment” policies.

Sixty-six percent of voters agreed with this statement, “President Trump’s America First Foreign Investment policy is designed to make America the world’s greatest destination for investment while protecting America’s national security interests. Welcoming foreign investment and strengthening our world-leading private and public capital markets is a key part of America’s Golden Age.” Forty-one percent of Democrats and 36 percent of Kamala Harris voters support this idea.

Eighty percent of voters also backed the idea of having foreign companies make their products in the United States in partnership with American companies to “maximize the benefit” to the American economy.

“Some American companies that conduct business in China are forced to partner with Chinese-based corporations, which are often controlled by the Chinese Communist Party,” the statement read.

Seventy-three percent of Harris voters and 75 percent of Democrats and independents agreed with this statement. Voters between the ages of 18 and 29 ranked the lowest on this sentiment; however, 68 percent of them agreed.

Almost three-quarters of voters, or 71 percent, backed the idea of leveling the playing field with China. These voters agree that the U.S. government should require Chinese companies that want to do business in America to be partially owned by the government, as often happens when American companies want to do business in the Middle Kingdom.

Plymouth Union Public Research conducted the poll from August 8-10, using a sample of 1,000 likely voters across seven battleground states.