Jeb Bush’s campaign has been in decline for months; the only saving grace being his cash situation. Major Bush donors are finally preparing to drop their candidate and start looking
elsewhere, per Politico.
Polling numbers have been extremely rough for Bush. He entered the race as the front-runner and now finds himself with 4.8% in
RealClearPolitics’ national GOP polling average. He has about half of the support struggling Dr. Ben Carson has.
The campaign’s difficulties underline emerging themes in
the 2016 cycle.
Buying elections has become more difficult, while online strategies are taking over from traditional TV advertising. Bush has aired more ads than anyone in either party: more
than 23,000.
Between his campaign and super PACs, Bush has more than $100 million still on the sidelines. He has spent $20 million so far this cycle, topped only by Ben Carson among
Republicans.
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On “Meet the Press” this weekend, Bush made reference to his healthy money reserves: “We have the resources to go the distance. And I’m gonna do
it.”
Unfortunately for Bush and his campaign team, donors are starting to seriously lose confidence.
A top Bush donor on Wall Street was reported by
Politico as saying: “I’m resigned to it being over, frankly. It’s really disappointing. I’d urge him to get out after New Hampshire if he doesn’t do well, but he
probably won’t.”
The Bush name is looking like the only reason why some donors may stick around. A Bush fundraiser told donors recently, “Hey, I need you to throw
away money on Jeb -- out of loyalty.”
Accordingly, a George W. administration official said that donors are waiting for a “family hall pass” to switch support to
another candidate. Bush’s donor base on Wall Street is expected to get behind Sen. Marco Rubio once Jeb’s failure becomes unavoidable.
Other donors, again from Wall
Street (pattern here?), are still grasping at straws. “I can’t believe Donald Trump is going to get the nomination. As long as there is still all this insanity, there is hope for
Jeb.”
The expectation that voters may finally come to their senses sounds like terribly wishful thinking.
Trump’s success is quickly gaining traction,
and voters are accepting Trump as their front-runner. As GOP voters increasingly see Trump as a viable nominee, Jeb’s hopes fade ever faster.
According to
The Washington Post, the fraction
of GOP voters that could see themselves supporting Trump has increased almost three-fold since March 2015. Over the same period, Bush’s numbers on the same question have almost halved.