Cracks are appearing in Jeb Bush’s formidable funding machine as the former Florida governor’s campaign for the presidency begins to show the strain of his poor poll ratings.
Three of Mr Bush’s top fundraisers have quit in recent days, the campaign has had to slash the salaries of its staff, and the Bush camp has sent out a desperate email pleading for money.
The unforeseen emergence of Donald Trump as frontrunner in the race for the Republican nomination is upsetting the carefully laid preparations of the man who was previously seen as the party’s most likely candidate to succeed his father and brother and become president of the United States.
A national poll last week put him in third place among Republican candidates, behind Mr Trump and the retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. The pair of political newcomers have tapped into widespread popular disillusionment with the political establishment of which Mr Bush is the race’s most potent symbol.
That was underlined over the weekend by an authoritative poll in Iowa, the state whose February caucus will kick off the primary season next year. It placed Mr Trump and Mr Carson far ahead of the rest of the field. Mr Trump’s 23 per cent share was a swing of 19 per cent since the Des Moines Register-Bloomberg poll was last carried out in May while his favourability rating had surged from -36 points to +26.
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More than 90 per cent of Republicans questioned said that they were unsatisfied or “mad as hell” with the US government and politicians in general. Mr Bush’s support remained steady at 6 per cent in a state which has never been critical to his plans. Concerns over his fundraising operation, for so long the juggernaut of the Republican race, could prove much more serious.
On Friday, three of Mr Bush’s top fundraising consultants in Florida abruptly left his campaign in circumstances that remain unclear. The Politico blog reported that Kris Money, Trey McCarley and Debbie Aleksander had departed “amid internal personality conflicts and questions about the strength of his candidacy”.
The three say that they are still working for the Right to Rise Super PAC and that they voluntarily quit but a source told Politico that they were let go because they weren’t generating enough money. Mr Trump delighted in his rival’s difficulties: “Wow,” he posted on Twitter. “Jeb Bush just lost three of his top fundraisers — they quit!”
The departures came after The New York Times reported last week that the Bush campaign had taken steps to rein in some of its spending as it bedded in for a longer and tougher campaign than might have been expected, even going so far as to cut some employee salaries.
By July 31, Mr Bush had raised $120million but failure to translate that spending advantage into improved poll ratings, coupled with his unconvincing stump appearances, may be starting to affect his ability to raise funds.
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•Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor, put a new twist on the topic of securing the border, by pointing north. He said yesterday that building a wall along the border with Canada was a legitimate issue that merited review.