As Jeb Bush enters the second day of his “Jeb Can Fix It” tour, a new national poll shows his favorability numbers are in desperate need of repair.
According to the latest Morning Consult national survey of registered voters, the former Florida governor has the highest unfavorable rating of any candidate in the Republican presidential field.
Bush, who began a last-ditch effort Monday to reboot his faltering presidential campaign, is viewed favorably by just a third of U.S. voters, while 51 percent hold a negative view of the establishment candidate.
Among Republicans, Bush maintains a net-positive favorability rating of 47 percent-42 percent. But his reputation among independent voters, who make up an unusually large share of the electorate in New Hampshire, is less encouraging.
Sixty-one percent of undecided male voters view Bush unfavorably while 24 percent hold a positive view of the former governor, and Bush earns a net-negative favorability rating of 41 percent-33 percent among undecided female voters.
The rest of the GOP field, with the exception of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, is also more likely to be viewed unfavorably than favorably among registered voters.
Donald Trump has a net-negative favorability rating of 43 percent-50 percent, followed by Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina, who are both viewed unfavorably by 35 percent of voters. Thirty-three percent of voters view Rubio favorably and 31 percent declined to give an opinion on the Florida senator, while 30 percent of voters view Fiorina favorably and 34 percent were unaware of who she is.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is the only other Republican hopeful with favorability numbers close to Bush’s. Just 29 percent of voters view Christie favorably while 46 percent hold a negative view of the Garden State governor. Similar to Bush, Christie is still more likely to be viewed favorably than unfavorably among GOP voters with a net-positive rating of 43 percent–37 percent.
Although Trump continues to lead the GOP field at 31 percent, the billionaire has dropped nearly 10 percentage points since mid-October when he stood at 40 percent support. Carson, meanwhile, has gone from 14 percent to 21 percent support in the same timeframe and maintains his second-place spot behind Trump. The two outsider candidates are trailed by Ted Cruz, 9 percent, and Bush and Rubio, who tie for fifth with 7 percent each.
The Morning Consult survey of 2,350 registered voters, including 937 Republicans and right-leaning independents, was conducted between Oct. 29-Nov. 1. Results contain an overall 2 percent margin of error.
