In 1996, Bob Dole declared himself a conservative. McCain does it every time he’s running for office. In 2012 Mitt Romney called himself “severely conservative.” Ultimately none of them made the sale because conservatives weren’t buying. 

Conservatives have had it with Me-Too Republicans, the kind who spend millions of dollars campaigning as champions of conservative values only to passively—and dishonestly—go along with liberal Democrats on virtually every single important issue. They’ve had it with the cowardice and/or duplicity of John Boehner in the House and Mitch McConnell in the Senate.

They’re not about to put up with more of these broken promises by a moderate in the White House in 2017. This time around the Republican Party has several worthy conservatives who can unite the party and win the White House, and GOP voters will see actual success if they nominate one of them instead of a third Bush who will lose to a second Clinton. 

Over 85 percent of Republican voters can’t be wrong. They’re looking beyond Jeb Bush because they don’t want to lose again.