Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is not yet where he needs to be as he
officially kicks off his presidential campaign, pollster John Zogby and Reagan biographer Craig Shirley tell
Newsmax TV.
Zogby told "Newsmax Prime" on Monday that Bush leads his latest poll, but is at only 13 points in the crowded GOP field. Ben Carson and Sen. Rand Paul each have 11 points.
"But that's not the position that a front-runner, at least at this point in time, should be in," Zogby said.
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Shirley added that polls a year ago had Bush in the high 20s to low 30s.
"Now he's down to the low teens and even lower than that," Shirley said. "So he's one of the few frontrunners in history to have actually gone backwards in the first year before he announced."
Bush also has several weights around his neck, including the family name, both men said. Bush's campaign logo uses only his first name followed by an exclamation point: Jeb!
"They're going to have a last name, and, as far as I know, he's not going to change his last name between now and the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries," Shirley said.
Bush also has failed to add any signature issues and has said Republicans need to get over Reagan nostalgia, Shirley added, so Bush is essentially running a personality campaign, he added.
Zogby said that Bush also has failed in his attempts to distance himself from the Iraq War policies of his brother, former President George W. Bush.
"He needs to distance himself from his brother, who is not popular with conservatives, and conservatives are going to drive this operation," Zogby said.
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