Bobby Jindal looks to gain by putting down his own party

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Gov. Bobby Jindal speaks about other presidential candidates on Sept. 19 at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Dinner.

Morgan Swearinger

Republicans often speak of the so-called “11th commandment”: Do not attack members of your own party.

However, GOP presidential candidate Bobby Jindal has made it a daily part of his campaign recently to do just that.

Jindal, who remained relatively low in the polls throughout his entire presidential campaign, has attacked frontrunner Donald Trump and lashed out at his own party who controls Congress.

Jindal has said “it’s time to get rid of the Republican Party if they do not stand for conservative values,” and has been taking the same ‘outsider’ approach as his fellow Republicans Trump, Fiorina and Carson, portraying to voters that they are not like professional politicians and are one of their constituents.

While the approach seems to be working for Trump, Fiorina and Carson, it has not for Jindal.

“Jindal is just not resonating with the public,” said David Andersen, assistant professor in political science. “He’s been in the public eye for a while. People know the name Bobby Jindal. I don’t know why people should be excited about him.”

The Louisiana Governor began his run in the political realm starting in 1996 when he was appointed secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. Jindal went on to win a seat in the House of Representatives in 2004.

Steffen Schmidt, professor in political science, believes the ‘outsider’ approach is what voters are looking for, but Jindal isn’t filling that void. Some people still don’t know why they should support him this time around, Schmidt said.

“He is not an outsider which seems to be the thing voters want,” Schmidt said. “So neither on issues, performance nor personality and style does he stand out. He does not have a brand.”

In regards to Jindal’s campaign, Schmidt said he believes Jindal does not have much room to fall.

“He has done everything badly,” Schmidt said. “His campaign is nowhere on the radar and he’s one of the candidates who doesn’t get invited to the debate.”

Andersen thinks that Jindal just needs to stick it out longer as candidates begin to drop out of the race.

“He needs to hang in there,” Andersen said. “He’s been courting the same voters as Huckabee and Carson. With all of these people saying the same thing, it’s hard to gain traction.”

Anderson believes Jindal needs to hold on until other candidates drop out of the race, at which time Jindal may see a spike in followers.