Jeb Bush’s Favorability Rating Sinks Like a Rock in Water

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Jeb Bush’s Favorability Rating Sinks Like a Rock in Water

January 13th, 2016

Awake Goy

The Bush name and legacy may have negative impact o n Jeb’s favorability rating.

The favorability rating of Jeb Bush, a once top-tier candidate for the Republican presidential nominee, has now sunk below water: According to the January 8, 2016 Gallop Poll, Bush’s net favorability rating among Republican voters has dropped from 27 percent in July, 2015, to a current negative 1 percent. This means that an increasing number of Republican voters have a negative opinion of Bush as opposed to those who have a positive opinion of him—his net favorability rating has sunk 28 points in six months.

Many claim that this decline in Bush’s favorability standing is due to his close allegiance to the Republican Party establishment, and that he has failed to connect with the energy that is motivating the base of the Party. Bush is certainly out of step with the large majority of the Republican voters, while persons like Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio are in step with them and continue to have strong favorability ratings. Ted Cruz is out front of the pack with a 45 net percent favorability rating; Ben Carson is second with 40 percent; third is Marco Rubio with 35 percent.

At the beginning of this political season, the Bush name and legacy were popularly believed to be sufficient to pole-vault Jeb Bush to victory in the Republican race. This has proven to be a patently false assumption. Maybe this is due to the current political environment, or to Jeb’s persona, or a combination of factors. And maybe Barbara Bush, the former President George W. Bush’s wife, was on target when she said that the Republicans have concluded that they don’t need another Bush in the White House. Be as that may, the fact is that Jeb is now below the surface of the water and sinking fast; odds are that his candidacy has dropped to a depth that is beyond salvation.