Bush plummets

Jeb Bush plummets in latest national poll

Trump and Carson continue to lead the GOP field.

By Nick Gass

Jeb Bush's support among Republicans nationally has plummeted to the low single digits in the latest Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday, as the former Florida governor's campaign seeks to hit refresh with its "Jeb Can Fix It" tour.

Donald Trump and Ben Carson, meanwhile, continued to lead the field, with Carson outperforming Hillary Clinton in a hypothetical general-election matchup.

In the latest poll, conducted after last week's third GOP debate in which Bush delivered a mediocre performance, just 4 percent of Republican and independent Republican-leaning voters said they would support Bush in their state's primary. In the September survey, Bush earned 10 percent, trailing Trump, Carson and Carly Fiorina. And in terms of favorability, no one polled lower than Bush, at a net-negative of 33 points. Just 25 percent of all registered voters surveyed said they had a positive opinion of him, while 58 percent said they had a negative one.

For its part, the Bush campaign has tried to manage expectations among the media.

"FYI political press corps. Jeb's going to have a few weeks of bad polls," campaign communications director Tim Miller tweeted Monday. "Comebacks take time, we recognize and are prepared for that."

Trump earned 24 percent from Republican voters this time, while Carson moved into a virtual tie at 23 percent. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio jumped into third place with 14 percent, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 13 percent. Other candidates took in 3 percent or less support, with 9 percent undecided.

Among Democratic and Democratic-leaning independent voters, Clinton bested Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to the tune of 53 percent to 35 percent, a 10-point jump for both from the same poll in September.

In general election matchups, Carson beat Clinton 50 percent to 40 percent, outdrawing the former secretary of state in the share of both men (55 percent to 35 percent) and of women (45 percent to 44 percent). Clinton also came up on the short end of hypothetical head-to-heads against Rubio (41 percent to 46 percent), Cruz (43 percent to 46 percent) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (43 percent to 46 percent), who drew less than Bush among Republican voters. Quinnipiac did not test a Bush-Clinton matchup.

Matched up against Trump, however, Clinton held a lead of 46 percent to 43 percent.

Overall, Carson earned the highest net favorability ratings of any candidate tested, at 49 percent favorable to 25 percent unfavorable (+24 positive), while Trump tied for the third lowest with another New Yorker, former Gov. George Pataki, at negative 19 points. Rubio had the second highest, at a net favorable of 14 points, followed by Fiorina at 10 points. Other candidates earned net positive numbers in the low single digits, negative single digits or in negative double digits, as in the case of Clinton (-10), Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (-11), former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (-13), former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (-16), former Virginia Sen. Jim Gilmore (-18) and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (-25).

Carson is also seen as the most honest and trustworthy of the candidates, with 62 percent responding that he is and just 24 percent that he is not. Clinton and Trump have typically performed more poorly than their fellow candidates in other polls, with the trend continuing in Wednesday's results. Just 36 percent saw Clinton as honest and trustworthy, compared to 60 percent who did not, while 38 percent saw Trump as honest and trustworthy and 58 percent did not.

But Clinton and Trump (as well as Christie) did lead their fellow contenders when voters were asked about leadership qualities. About 60 percent said Trump had strong leadership qualities, while 56 percent said the same for the former secretary of state and governor of New Jersey.

The poll was conducted via landlines and cellphones Oct. 29-Nov. 2, surveying 1,144 registered voters nationwide, with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. The overall sample included 502 Republicans, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, and 480 Democrats, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.