Cruz is #2 in MO presumably. Rubio staying him hurts him a lot since he started picking up a lot of the brain dead never Trump votes.
“The brain-dead never-Trump votes.” I love it. That’s what I see also.
Many people go by easy images instead of substance. Fortunately, that’s also true of the ones who are never-Cruz votes, in his case because he’s “conservative.” They pick the candidate who superficially endorses their image of themselves so they don’t have to do any reading or other hard work and thus be obliged to defend their choice.
Never Trump, never Cruz, so Rubio gets the leftovers. Shallow waters.