Remember after the 2010 midterms, when congressional Republicans promised a whole new day on Capitol Hill? GOP policymakers had heard the voice of "the people" and Congress, at long last, would be different.
And in a way, it is different. Congress, as an institution, has never been popular, but its standing has reached depths that were hard to event imagine.
Ten percent of Americans in August approve of the job Congress is doing, tying last February's reading as the lowest in Gallup's 38-year history of this measure. Eighty-three percent disapprove of the way Congress is doing its job.
Gallup
It's the worst Congress ever and its public standing now reflects its ignominious record.
Incidentally, it's against this backdrop that Mitt Romney thought it'd be a good idea to find a notoriously high-profile figure from this Congress and make him a running mate. I don't understand it, either.
As for the 2012 congressional elections, it's worth keeping in mind that when a public institution is reviled to such a degree, electoral volatility seems likely. The conventional wisdom seems to be that the House Republican majority will probably hang on, but we've never gone into an election with Congress this unpopular.
Why are some Republican members of Congress pretending to run as challengers, instead of the incumbents they are, hoping their own constituents are just dumb enough to fall for it? This poll goes a long way in explaining why.
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Isn't this exactly what Republicans want: for the public to be disgusted with the government so they'll vote for people who are disgusted by government?
Republicans are still expected to retain the House.
The tea party has a bumpersticker "I love haters". They love to hate government.
Precisely. I started reading Mike Lofgren's book today. That's exactly what he says they've done.
I don't believe the hype about Republicans holding the House, not with Ryan tied around their necks.
House GOP vote to retroactively vote against Ryan budget.
Wouldn't this be representative of Democrats (control Senate) and Republicans (control House), not just one side?
Three words: jobs, jobs, jobs
Two words: debt limit
One word: default
One word: filibuster.
That one word says it all, grumpy.
The same poll (Gallup) touted above seems to say otherwise:
The disapproval is from Democratic inability to combat the idiocy of the GOP. Given that the GOP has gotten their way for the past 1.75 years, demanding supermajorities in the Senate and controlling the House, the frustration is that Dems haven't somehow fought the continuing abuse. How they were supposed to do so, without resorting to the dirty tricks of the GOP, I don't know.
Well, Sen. Reid could have done something about the filibuster after the 2010 midterms instead of relying on some sort of "gentleman's agreement" as he apparently did. I suspect that, once given the opportunity, he may not fall for that old trick again.
@grumpylib - Make that 30 years the cons have had their way instead of 1.75 years and I would agree with you on everything else.
RobDon, what isn't stated in your post is that the question was "Congressional Job Approval -- Recent Trend by Political Affiliation," meaning how the general populace feels about Congress by THEIR political affiliation. You make it sound as though the approval rating is of the parties themselves in Congress not Congress as a whole. I would be interested to see a poll like the one quoted but based upon your assumption of the popularity of the PARTIES in Congress. The only poll that will be like that will likely only take place in November.
Carol - I wasn't going to cast quite so wide a net... one disaster at a time. :)
Ronald - thanks for that. That's what I get for taking RobDon at his word. Never trust a troll.
Ronald and Grumpy, that is why I try to always include links, so people can read for themselves. I was not trying to be misleading....I quoted directly from the article...sorry.
My thought, if Dems and Reps dislike Congress' performance equally it would be highly unlikely they both disliked the Republicans equally.
Here's what I could find related to your point, Ronald (I welcome others):
Harris poll from Jan. 2012
Boehner 46% negative, 11% postive
Pelosi 53% negative, 13% positive
Reid 42% negative, 8% positive
Republicans 56% negative, 10% negative
Democrats 53% negative, 13% positive
McClatchy-Marist poll (???) from March 2012 (note two links in name)
Republicans in Congress
31% approve perf, 62% disapprove
Democrats in Congress
34% approve perf, 59% disapprove
Rasmussen poll from Jun. 2012
Boehner 37% favorable, 41% unfavorable
McConnell 32% favorable, 33% unfavorable
Pelosi 33% favorable, 56% unfavorable
Reid 24% favorable, 52% unfavorable
The problem even with this poll is you don't know the reason WHY? Do they want them to hold their ground more, compromise more, etc???
That being said, seems there may be a slight edge to the Democrats but most of the above stats are within the margins of errors making them close to if not a statistical tie. Thus giving evidence that it is not just one party or the other with which most are dissatisfied.
Bzzt! Penalty, use of biased polling. Rasmussen is automatically disqualified for unethical polling with an automatic bias to the right. To get accurate polling when compiling, it has to be discounted.
Fine. Discount it. But I believe even discounted with the other two polls it illustrates the points.
The presidential elections always have a higher turnout than off year elections so pollsters who are using that data to make projections. Pundits and pollsters are underestimating the disgust that voters have with Congress. I expect to see large turnouts at the polls and a lot of election upsets.
Interesting to note, the approval rating went up to 84% in '02'. Perpahps the highest approval in history of Gallup. Was that a Democratic House and Senate?
That was a split Congress. Part of the time both houses and President were held by Republicans. Part of the time Democrats had control of Senate.
That spike in approval was just after 9/11. GWB had his highest approval rating during the same period.
Mind Bend
I came back here to say exactly that.
That 84% rating in a knee jerk patriotic reaction to 9/11.
After a low in 11/11 it shot up in 12/11, then crashed after that. I wonder what happened in 12/11 that we all loved. Maybe we "won" in Afghanistan.
I don't put much stock in generic polls. This is just like the generic Republican vs Obama polls, take it with a grain of salt. I am not saying that people love congress, just saying that the hate of the institution is not always translated down to voting out incumbents. When these polls also ask the people "what do you thing about your representative", the answers are typically MUCH more positive. It is the "I hate all the other politicians from the other states/districts" mentality that allows for this low number of approval. This is just a symptom of our society and culture - people like to point the finger at others, but fail to see that they have any culpability.
Until someone has the guts to stand up to Conservatives in America and say the tough things about your lack of compassion, your lack of empathy, your lack of giving a @!$%# about anyone but yourself, your fear of others, your focus on your pocketbook, your strange gun-love, your misinterpretation of who Jesus really was and your, apparent, acceptance of wars based on lies - is all a product of some deeper issue of psychological damage - nothing will ever change in America.
If mom didn't hug you enough, don't take it out on the rest of the world, seek some professional help...for mankind's sake.
was gallup closed for much of the 80s?