Secretary of State Marco Rubio has seen a boost in his approval ratings, according to a recent poll by the Daily Mail. The late December survey shows Rubio as the most favored member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, with a net approval rating of +6. Specifically, 39% of respondents approve of Rubio’s performance, while 33% disapprove. This survey, conducted by J.L. Partners, also found that Attorney General Pam Bondi is the least popular Cabinet member, though her ratings are only slightly negative at -1. Rubio’s current rating is his highest this year, surpassing his previous peak of +3 in April.

Before the poll was conducted on December 20 and 21, Rubio made headlines by announcing he would step aside if Vice President JD Vance decided to run for president in 2028, potentially avoiding a major conflict within the MAGA faction. “If JD Vance runs for president, he’s going to be our nominee,” Rubio told Vanity Fair, adding that he would be quick to support him. Although Trump has not officially endorsed Vance for the 2028 Republican nomination, he has suggested that Vance and Rubio could make a formidable team. Following the poll, Rubio was depicted as a seasoned figure in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine negotiations, with NBC News reporting on December 22 about some tensions between him and Trump’s Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff.

The report highlights security concerns involving Witkoff, who has been traveling to broker peace deals on behalf of Trump using his private aircraft. While the State Department maintains that Rubio and Witkoff have a “close working relationship” and are “personal friends,” sources indicated that Witkoff had initially arranged a meeting with the French president without Rubio’s involvement. It is rare for a businessman lacking foreign policy experience to secure a direct meeting with a head of state over the U.S.’s chief diplomat. Ultimately, Rubio did attend the meeting, and the State Department dismissed any claims that Witkoff was obstructing Rubio’s participation as “absurd.” The two also hold differing views on the Ukraine conflict, with Rubio advocating for economic pressure on Russia as a means to bring them to the negotiating table.

Witkoff has been criticized for having too light a hand with Russian President Vladimir Putin. ‘He’s a gift to the Russians,’ one congressional official told NBC about Witkoff. The New York Times also detailed Rubio’s role in trying to conclude the conflict in a story published Tuesday. In March, Rubio had asked members of a Ukrainian delegation to draw on a map the borders they could live with. ‘I want to know what your absolute bottom lines are; what do you have to have to survive as a country?’ the Secretary of State said. One American called it a breakthrough moment, saying it was ‘the first time that [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, through his people, said, in order to reach peace I’m willing to give up 20 percent of my country.’

If Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t agree to the boundaries or other parts of a deal etched out – including that Ukraine couldn’t become a NATO nation but could join the European Union – ‘then he has a Donald Trump problem,’ Rubio reportedly told Ukrainian officials. When meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin aide Yuri Ushakov for the first time, The Times said, Rubio channeled the classic American movie, The Godfather. He recalled the scene in which Vito Corleone tells his son: ‘I spend my life trying not to be careless. Women and children can be careless, but not men.’ Rubio told the Russians that, as nuclear powers, the U.S. and Russia needed to communicate. Lavrov reportedly broke into a smile. But a September incident showcased how difficult it has been for the U.S. to negotiate with the Russians, as Lavrov informed Rubio that he believed Trump had made a commitment to Putin during their Alaska meeting to force Zelensky to give up most of the Donetsk region. Lavrov sent a letter to Rubio demanding that Trump publicly acknowledge that.

U.S. officials told the Times that while Trump reacted positively to Putin’s pitch to end the war in Donetsk, the president made no such commitment. On top of that, U.S. officials were told that Putin hadn’t authorized such a letter, that it was a Lavrov power play. Amid this drama, Trump finally green-lit more sanctions on Russia. Daily Mail’s December polling found that voters felt the most negatively about the idea of Ukraine having to give up territory currently not held by Russia as part of an agreement to end the war. They were lukewarm on the idea of the U.S. lifting sanctions on Russia as part of the peace deal, with 32 percent finding it acceptable and 33 percent finding it unacceptable. Polling consisted of 1,000 registered voters online and was conducted December 20 to 21. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent. It comes as Zelensky said Ukraine was only ‘10 per cent away’ from a peace deal in his New Year address. But the Ukrainian president also insisted he would not sign a ‘weak’ deal at any cost in the 20-minute speech. The final part of the agreement will ‘determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe’ and ‘save millions of lives’, Mr Zelensky added.

And his reservations remain around ceding territory to Russia in eastern Ukraine, which Mr Zelensky warned will embolden Vladimir Putin. He said: ‘We want the war to end – not the end of Ukraine. Can Russia end the war? Yes. Does it want to? No. Can the world force it to? Yes – and only that way will it work. Signatures under weak agreements only fuel war. Either the world stops Russia’s war, or Russia drags the world into its war.’ Ukraine is expected to resume negotiations with US and European officials tomorrow, while the UK-led Coalition of the Willing is expected to meet on Sunday. Mr Zelensky is seeking to secure stronger security guarantees from the US as part of a negotiated peace settlement. It comes as Western intelligence sources dismissed Kremlin claims that Ukraine launched a drone attack on Putin’s Black Sea hideaway.