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PPP's newest North Carolina poll finds that Donald Trump is holding his ground- at least compared to where he was in the state six weeks ago. Trump leads with 26% to 21% for Ben Carson, 12% for Carly Fiorina, 10% for Marco Rubio, 9% for Ted Cruz, 6% for Mike Huckabee, 5% for Jeb Bush, 4% for John Kasich, and 2% for Chris Christie. Rounding out the field are Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal at 1%, and Jim Gilmore, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, and Rand Paul all at less than 1%. Trump's 26% is almost identical to his 24% standing...

Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio appeared on "Hannity" tonight to weigh in on a variety of topics, including his recent war of words with Donald Trump. "It's very clear he’s a very insecure person. He doesn’t like to be criticized," Rubio said. "The presidency is a tough job. You’re going to be criticized, and you can’t flip out every time somebody says something about you. He does. And that’s his problem."

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush’s oil shipping business is partly financed by progressive billionaire George Soros’s Chinese business partner and protégé. Bush’s ties to the left-wing Democratic donor could cast further suspicion on his personal business dealings during the Republican primary season. Bush is the chairman of BH Logistics, a $26 million private equity fund that was incorporated in April 2014. Who invested in BH Logistics? Bush’s firm received a major investment from HNA Group, a Chinese private equity firm. Bush took the money from HNA Group and spent it to invest in the gas shipping company Dorian LPG, which...

Americans are funny about taxes: When we complain about them, we don’t moan that we are paying too much — we lament that others are paying too little. In a Pew Research Center poll last year, only 27 percent of Americans cited their own tax liabilities among their complaints about the tax code, while 64 percent complained that other taxpayers — the wicked 1 percenters, the dreaded corporations — were getting off too easy. If you’ve ever met anybody who believes that we can balance the budget by cutting foreign aid, that the Social Security “trust fund” is a real...

Once hailed as the likely Republican nominee, Jeb Bush’s support has been sliced in half from July to September and now stands at 7% as a variety of potential voters turned to other candidates, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. Mr. Bush is in fifth place among likely GOP voters after real estate developer Donald Trump, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Sen. Marco Rubio (R.,Fla.) and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. Mr. Bush lost support across the board: among men and women, voters under and over 50 years of age, talk-radio listeners, and values and tea-party voters...

Thursday is October 1. Republican caucus and primary voters begin voting the first of February. Jeb Bush has suffered a big decline in the polls, losing, by the count of Wall Street Journal pollsters, 2/3 of his support nationally since June. (He was at 22 percent in that month's Journal poll and seven percent in a new survey released Sunday.) Other polls show significant decline. -snip- So what is Team Bush's response? To project a sense of calm and imperturbability in the face of bad news. "The race is completely fluid -- look at all the moving parts to date,"...

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush has snagged a top GOP operative with ties to the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. Until recently, Austin Barbour was running a super PAC backing Perry's presidential campaign. But the former Texas governor bowed out this month, and Barbour joined Team Bush officially Monday as a senior adviser focused on finance and political operations. Barbour and campaign officials confirmed the hire, which was first reported by Politico. During the 2012 race, Barbour was a deputy to top Romney adviser Stuart Stevens and helped with fundraising and get-out-the-vote efforts in early states. More...

I wrote earlier today how Trump could “surprise me in a good way” over his tax plan, and you know, he did. His personal income tax reform plan for people who don’t have stocks is really simple and something which he should be praised for.The simplification is really good and is a lot easier than the current system. Good on Trump for doing this. From a personal standpoint, I prefer either a very low flat tax (7%) or zero income tax at all. But the income tax part of Trump’s plan isn’t bad at all. I’m still not sure...

GOP 2016 POWER INDEX: JEB JOLTED FROM TOP SPOT There’s been a seismic shakeup this week, knocking Jeb Bush from the top spot for the first time since the race began and putting Sen. Ted Cruz at the top. The latest WSJ/NBC News poll has Donald Trump and Ben Carson tied for the lead with Sen. Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina tied for third place. But few would imagine that those rankings will be predictive. Bush and Cruz in are farther behind, but the Fox News First Power Index is about more than just the latest polls. It’s about who...

At a campaign event in South Carolina on Thursday, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush was asked how he planned to include black people in his campaign and get them to vote for him. Bush responded, “Our message is one of hope and aspiration.” But he didn’t stop there. He continued: “It isn’t one of division and get in line and we’ll take care of you with free stuff. Our message is one that is uplifting — that says you can achieve earned success.” There it is! If you let people talk long enough, the true self will always be revealed....

CHICAGO — Donald Trump wanted to kick him off the debate stage. Fox News ignored him. CNN limited his time, then called him a loser. Having been resoundingly Trumped, Gov. Scott Walker wants a “positive conservative” to emerge in the Republican race for president. But just who is this positive conservative Walker dreams of? Could it be Sen. Rand Paul, right on the Constitution, appealing to young voters but woefully lacking in good hair and TV game-show host charisma? Perhaps the angry Sen. Ted Cruz, whose formidable brain is overshadowed by a wide-eyed zeal that frightens children and political independents?...

By now, you surely know that Donald Trump is the least-liked Republican candidate for president. How could he not be, after months and months of coverage of how disliked he is? A new Fox News survey reveals that, thanks to opposition from Democrats, Trump is indeed viewed less favorably than any other candidate. But if you look only at Republican respondents, that changes: Republicans view Jeb Bush even worse. Among all voters, Trump is at negative-25 -- that is, he is viewed 25 points more unfavorably than favorably. Bush is at -21. Among Republicans? Bush gets lower marks than anyone,...

My goodness. If this is true and the money starts drying up, Jeb can’t possibly keep going based on what he’s already raised for more than, say, another nine months, right?He’s got a president father and a president brother. Half of the donor class either worked for one or both of them or owes them some sort of favor. Jeb’s not going to run out of money. Jeb Bush is entering a critical phase of his Republican presidential campaign, with top donors warning that the former Florida governor needs to demonstrate growth in the polls over the next month...

While real estate mogul Donald Trump continues to lead the Republican field, several rivals are beginning to find footholds, the new poll shows. Trump leads with 30 percent of the vote, ahead of 15 percent for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and 10 percent for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

More Americans say they see Vice President Joe Biden in a favorable light than those who view him unfavorably, a new Morning Consult survey finds, but former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to lead the Democratic field. Biden is viewed favorably by 49 percent of voters, while 40 percent see him unfavorably. If he decides to run for president, it would make him one of just a small handful of candidates who have net-favorable ratings at a time when most voters see anyone with political experience in a negative light. Snip While real estate mogul Donald Trump continues to...

GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush, who was at one time considered a shoe-in for the party nomination, is now facing a do-or-die warning from senior fundraisers who say he needs to correct his sinking poll numbers in October or face losing key supporters. The former Florida governor over the weekend downplayed his dwindling poll numbers, telling Fox News Sunday the "polls don't really matter," reports The Washington Post, and he and his super PAC are readying an aggressive ad campaign, but a recent national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll put him in fifth place with just 7 percent of the...

A senior Republican official is urging Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to resign from his job as the Republican leader of the Senate. “Mitch is a good and honorable guy, but the base is leaving our party,” Roger Villere, the chairman of the Louisiana GOP... “I’ve worked for 12 years as chairman to build this party, and I just don’t want to see it all go down the drain because the [leaders] aren’t willing to fight for what we believe… Our base is demanding we do something or they’re going to leave us,” said Villare, who also holds a position...

I grew up in a blue-collar family in a working class neighborhood (the South Bronx) where just about everybody (if not literally everybody) voted Democratic. In college, I was a liberal – and proud of it. The big issue was civil rights and liberals were on the right side of that one while conservatives – yes, mostly Democrats from the South – were on both the wrong side of history and the wrong side of decency. When the issue of women’s rights came along, I was on board with that too. I didn’t think much about taxes, mainly because I...

Jeb Bush's lackluster campaign sparks GOP grumblings: 'If you want to lose the general election, nominate Jeb'. Jeb Bush could be the letdown of the Republican primary if he doesn't resuscitate his campaign posthaste. Sunday saw the former Florida governor slide to fifth place in the race behind Trump, Carson, Rubio, and Fiorina, with only 7 percent in a national NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. His numbers are similarly unexciting in Iowa and New Hampshire, both of which have early February contests. "What I hear everywhere when you say Jeb's name is, 'If you want to lose the general election, nominate...

POLITICO ‏@politico 12m12 minutes ago #Breaking: Eric Cantor, former House majority leader, will endorse Jeb Bush on Thursday http://politi.co/1KaycCU