Jindal may make the main stage of the GOP debate.
By Raif Karerat
In a tale of two stragglers, Bobby Jindal — the Indian American governor of Louisiana who has perpetually trailed far behind the frontrunners in the race for the GOP presidential nomination — has overtaken former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in new polling data from the battleground state of Iowa.
Jindal scored 6 percent support in the survey from Public Policy Polling (PPP), one percentage point ahead of Bush, albeit within the poll’s 3.9 percent margin of error.
The poll found that Bush has the highest unfavorable rating of any Republican candidate in Iowa, with 30 percent viewing him positively and 43 percent viewing him negatively.
Jindal’s 60 percent favorability rating, meanwhile, is tied for third highest in the state behind retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
According to The Hill, Jindal’s campaign managers have always liked his chances in Iowa, arguing that his Christian conservative positions and record as Louisiana’s governor would resonate with the state’s voters.
Meanwhile, Bush pledged to an Iowa crowd on Oct. 31 that he would be a better candidate and that his performance in last week’s debate wasn’t as strong as it could have been. Two days later, his team launched a “Jeb Can Fix it Tour†aimed at retooling his lackluster campaign, reported the Washington Times.
“I know I have to get better,†Bush said at Iowa GOP’s Growth and Opportunity Party on Saturday. “I don’t have this gigantic ego that says, ‘Well they’re just stupid. Iowa voters don’t understand me.’ But also, I’m a really competitive guy.â€
Donald Trump and Ben Carson held the top two spots in the PPP poll, with 22 percent and 21 percent support respectively, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 15 percent and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) at 10 percent. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) tied with Jindal for fifth with 6 percent support.