Even $30 million in TV ads can't buy Jeb Bush love in the polls
Jeb Bush really can't gain traction in the polls. In the last couple months, the former Florida governor's campaign has been given the largest investment from any one group in the 2016 race thus far — $30 million worth of television ads from super PAC Right to Rise. He has launched a comeback campaign, changed up his strategy, and brushed up on his on-air personality. And still, his poll numbers haven't budged.
The Republican presidential candidate has "barely registered" in polls nationwide and in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, The Wall Street Journal reports. In the latest national Quinnipiac University poll out Wednesday, for instance, Bush came in a whopping 22 points behind frontrunner Donald Trump, with only 5 percent support.
If his poll numbers weren't evidence enough that his efforts have been unsuccessful, The Wall Street Journal also found confirmation from Republican voters. In a year dominated by Trump's rhetoric, one voter said that a "polished politician" like Bush doesn't fit the bill of someone "who will shake things up." Another suggested that Bush has been too focused on what he accomplished as governor of Florida, when "his message should be the direction he wants to take the country."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"I just don't think this is his year," one Republican voter told The Wall Street Journal. "We need new blood to beat Hillary Clinton. It's nothing personal."
Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Taps could run dry in drought-stricken TehranUnder the Radar President warns that unless rationing eases water crisis, citizens may have to evacuate the capital
-
Alaska faces earth-shaking loss as seismic monitoring stations shutterIN THE SPOTLIGHT NOAA cuts have left the western seaboard without a crucial resource to measure, understand and predict tsunamis
-
10 great advent calendars for everyone (including the dog)The Week Recommends Countdown with cocktails, jams and Legos
-
Trump pardons 2020 fake electors, other GOP alliesSpeed Read The president pardoned Rudy Giuliani and more who tried to overturn his 2020 election loss
-
Supreme Court to decide on mail-in ballot limitsSpeed Read The court will determine whether states can count mail-in ballots received after Election Day
-
Democrats split as Senate votes to end shutdownSpeed Read The proposed deal does not extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, the Democrats’ main demand
-
USDA orders states to ‘undo’ full SNAP paymentsSpeed Read The Trump administration is telling states not to pay full November food stamp benefits
-
Senate takes first step to end record shutdownSpeed Read Eight senators in the Democratic caucus voted with Republicans to advance legislation to reopen the government
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch