Jeb Bush's lackluster campaign sparks GOP grumblings: 'If you want to lose the general election, nominate Jeb'

(Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

last updated 28 September 2015

Jeb Bush could be the letdown of the Republican primary if he doesn't resuscitate his campaign posthaste. Sunday saw the former Florida governor slide to fifth place in the race behind Trump, Carson, Rubio, and Fiorina, with only 7 percent in a national NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. His numbers are similarly unexciting in Iowa and New Hampshire, both of which have early February contests.

"What I hear everywhere when you say Jeb's name is, 'If you want to lose the general election, nominate Jeb,'" one fundraiser, speaking under anonymity, told The Washington Post.

A series of gaffes and misfires have plagued Jeb from the start, while alienating minorities and women voters — demographics that Jeb's so-called "cultural fluency" was supposed to win over, according to The Washington Post. Nevertheless, Jeb's staffers are in search of a campaign defibrillator: "I think if people get to know Jeb and they give him a chance, he's going to be tough to beat,” Republican strategist Henry Barbour said. "But they don't know him yet."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.