Poll: No Clinton, Bush baggage in Iowa

Most Iowa voters would not mind a former president playing a prominent role in the White House, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

The Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register survey found most Iowa Republicans would support former President George W. Bush advising his younger brother, Jeb Bush, should he win the Oval Office.

{mosads}Iowa Democrats, meanwhile, reacted positively to the prospect of former President Bill Clinton re-entering the executive mansion alongside his wife, Hillary Clinton, should she capture the presidency.

The poll found 57 percent of likely GOP caucus participants would find George W. Bush serving as a close adviser to his brother as “mostly good” for a third Bush administration.

Only 33 percent, it added, saw that arrangement as “mostly bad” for a potential Jeb Bush White House.

Democrats were even more supportive of the Clinton partnership returning to the White House.

Of those surveyed, 83 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers said Bill Clinton helping his wife would be “mostly good” for a Hillary Clinton presidency.

Just 9 percent of respondents, meanwhile, saw that relationship as “mostly bad” for the former first couple should they retake the White House.

Jeb Bush has not yet announced an official 2016 bid, and he has struggled at times with the legacy of his brother, George W. Bush, and their father, former President George H.W. Bush.

He has particularly grappled with his brother’s unpopular invasion of Iraq in 2003. After initially saying last month that he would have made the same decision, Jeb Bush reversed course, calling the invasion a mistake.

Selzer & Co., a polling organization in West Des Moines, conducted the survey May 25-29.

It polled 437 likely Democratic caucus-goers with a 4.7 percentage point margin of error, and 402 likely GOP caucus-goers, with a 4.9-percentage-point margin of error.