No one was surprised last June when Jeb Bush announced that he was officially running to be the Republican Nominee for the 2016 presidential election. For one, he is the third Bush to run following his brother George Jr. and his dad George Sr. Along with the fact that he is named Jeb and not George, there are a lot of differences between his campaign and his family’s. The question being raised is this: Is Jeb purposely separating himself from his family, or is it just bad campaigning?

Many sources show that Jeb and his brother George highly disagree on many things. Despite them being so different, why is he so behind where his brother was at in his campaign? There seems to be a new trend among many Republican citizens in America. Many are demanding more conservative leaders in Washington, D.C. A “New Bush” just will not cut it for many people. We saw the effects of this with the takedown of former Speaker of the House John Boehner, and Chris Christie being widely criticized for shaking President Obama’s hand when he made a visit after hurricane Sandy.

Jeb Bush may also be purposely pushing away from his family. For one, his campaign signs all exclaim, “Jeb!” By using his first name instead of his well-known last name, he is creating a distance. This article by the Washington Post from last May (before Bush announced his candidacy) lays out some of the distance we see him making.

Before starting up his campaign, Jeb gave some public criticism on his brother’s presidency. He explained that he felt that George W. Bush spent too much for a Republican. Jeb said, “I think he could have used the veto power — he didn’t have line-item veto power, but he could have brought budget discipline to Washington, D.C.” Fiscal responsibility is a heavy issue for many conservatives in the U.S., so Jeb may have been trying to reach out to that audience for support just a month before his June announcement.

Despite his fiscal criticism of his brother, Jeb seems to be publicly keeping his opinions to himself about the Bush family. He even fought against Trump’s criticism of George W. Bush, saying that his brother kept America safe despite Trump's claims. The question of Bush’s campaign methods still hold: does he want to be a Bush?

According to this Politico article, Jeb’s poll numbers plummeted about a week before the November 10 debate. Many people, including Jeb’s campaign financiers, questioned his ability to hold up his campaign for much longer. The most recent debate was Jeb’s chance to prove himself to his donors and the conservative voters of America.

To hold up his identity, Jeb Bush made a lot of 90-second mini-speeches at the debate on Tuesday to boost his comeback. When asked about his regulation plans, Bush made a lot of conservative points on how he is going to create more jobs before he attacked Obama and Clinton. He also made a lot of passionate points about tax reform, international security, and attacking Trump’s immigration plan. The debate was a near-perfect platform for Bush to solidify his political positions to a confused public. His cherry on top of the debate sundae was the many Clinton attacks he administered.

Recently, before and after the debate, Jeb has been stepping up his campaign to full-force ahead. To prove his “toughness,” he jokingly claims that he eats nails before breakfast. Along with new TV commercials, Jeb’s campaign has launched a new initiative saying that with any problem, #JebCanFixIt.

What’s next for the presidential candidate? With the next GOP debate being over a month away on December 15, Bush has a few weeks to hit the road to further his new campaign. With the primaries so close, we can expect Jeb to be focusing on some key states by spending more quality time with Iowa and New Hampshire.