LONDONDERRY, N.H. (AP) – Jeb Bush stared across the Londonderry Senior Center in disbelief.
A voter at his town hall had just told him she’d read the candidate’s 3,000-word tax plan. “The fact that you read it makes me feel so pleased – even if you didn’t like it,” Bush said, unsuccessfully holding back a grin.
It was the sort of moment Bush surely dreamed about when he announced his 2016 bid six months ago. Soon, the two were deep in the weeds of his proposals for capital gains taxes on estates, when Bush paused. “We’re having a real wonk-a-thon right now,” he said gleefully.
It was also a moment all too rare for Bush, a former front-runner stubbornly sticking to a sober-minded approach to his campaign despite months of evidence that Republican voters aren’t much interested in what he’s selling.
The portion of Republican registered voters who think Bush could win the general election, should he win his party’s nomination, has dropped to 40 percent in a new Associated Press-GfK poll, down from 60 percent in October.