DISCLAIMER: This article was first published on April 2, 2025
Barack Obama and Donald Trump never ran against each other for president, and due to the Constitution, neither of them can run again.
But what if they did?
According to an Overton Insights survey of 1,100 registered voters published this week and cited by the Independent, Obama would defeat Trump in a hypothetical matchup of the 44th and 45th (and 47th) presidents.
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“If the 22nd Amendment were amended to allow presidents to serve three terms, and both Donald Trump and Barack Obama were eligible to run in the 2028 presidential election, for whom would you vote?” is how the question is worded.
New – 2028 General election poll
🔵 Obama 53%
🔴 Trump 47%Overton – 3/28
— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) April 7, 2025
The same poll asked respondents who they would vote for on the Democratic side in 2028 if the election were held today. Among overall voters, former Vice President Kamala Harris was the leader at 48 percent, followed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with 15 percent, Gov. Gavin Newsom with 10 percent, Gov. Josh Shapiro with 9 percent, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at 6 percent, Gov. Wes Moore with 3 percent, and ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith with 2 percent.
On the Republican side, voters were asked the same question. Vice President J.D. Vance led with 36 percent, followed by Donald Trump, Jr. with 31 percent, Gov. Ron DeSantis with 13 percent, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy with 6 percent, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio with 6 percent.
I was doing some reasearch and had occasion to watch the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner again.
I remain quite convinced that it was the night Donald Trump decided he would destroy America. pic.twitter.com/SeqkcTekke
— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) July 28, 2024
Although they have never run against each other directly, Trump and Obama are longtime rivals. Trump spent much of Obama’s presidency attacking Obama, including pushing the bogus rumor that the 44th president was not born in the United States. Obama famously ripped Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in 2011, on the eve of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan.
After handing the presidency to Trump in 2017, Obama went on to campaign for every one of Trump’s Democratic opponents in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 cycles. However, the two men were seen chatting, surprisingly amicably, during Jimmy Carter’s funeral in late December of last year.
Donald Trump and Barack Obama together at Jimmy Carter’s funeral. pic.twitter.com/V5gMWe1coK
— Pop Base (@PopBase) January 9, 2025
“I didn’t realize how friendly it looked,” Trump said the following day of the exchange at the funeral. “I said, ‘Boy, they look like two people that like each other.’ And we probably do.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
