“Jeb has been body-snatched,” said Sid Dinerstein, former chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party and an active supporter of Bush’s gubernatorial bids.

“You remember the movie ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers?’” Dinerstein asked on the sidelines of the Sunshine State Summit. “One of them went in and snatched Jeb Bush and made this guy a supporter of Common Core and amnesty.”

The tepid support on display here is right in line with Florida polls, some of which show Bush clinging to fourth place with Texan Ted Cruz and running well behind his one-time protégé Marco Rubio. According to one recent survey, taking Bush out of the crowded race would put Rubio in a tie with Donald Trump among Florida voters – a finding that Republicans like Dinerstein say should encourage Bush to consider quitting the race.

That’s a dramatic shift since the last time Republican presidential contenders gathered here, for Gov. Rick Scott’s Economic Growth Summit in June. Then, Bush led in national polling and Rubio was viewed as an upstart who would have to break the senior Floridian’s hold on the state party to fulfill his national ambitions.