According to the poll, released Thursday morning, 43% of people questioned had a favorable opinion of Bush, with 54% saying they had an unfavorable view of the former president. Bush’s 43% favorable rating is the same as it was in 2010 in CNN polling, but is up from his mid-30’s favorable rating during 2009, his first year out of the White House…

When asked in the survey whether they are better or worse off than they were four years ago, Americans are split, 44% to 43%. But when asked whether they are better or worse off than they were four years ago “when Bush was president,” a small gap opens – 47% say they are better off compared to 41% who say they are worse off.

The poll suggests that any attempts by Republicans to respond to the highlighting of Bush by stirring memories of former President Jimmy Carter may not work. Carter, the one-term Democratic president who was election in 1976 and defeated in 1980, is viewed favorably by 54% of the public, with just three in ten seeing him in a negative light.