A big gun is headed on the campaign trail for Jeb Bush: his brother, the former president.
George W. Bush will make his first public appearance in South Carolina Monday.
Bush’s campaign hopes Bush 43’s appearance on the campaign trail will help build grassroots support in South Carolina. Bush is polling between 8 and 13 percent in South Carolina right now, according to Real Clear Politics.
After seven years out of office, polls show George W. Bush is viewed a bit more favorably than he was when he left office. In 2009 Bush’s job approval rating hovered, on average, around 29 percent.
Now he has a 45 percent favorability rating. But among Republicans, Bush’s rating among Republicans is in the 70s, depending on the poll (A Bloomberg Politics National poll last November put the rating at 77 percent. A Pew poll in May 2015 put the rating at 73 percent).
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Some political insiders in South Carolina think Bush’s entry into his brother’s campaign could be enough to confound the other candidates, including Donald Trump, who has hit Jeb Bush hard on the campaign trail and in the debates.
The former president already hit the airwaves for his brother. He is featured in a new ad for Jeb Bush’s Super PAC, Right to Rise.