And an all-time record low? Yup, that historical trend is certainly an eye-catcher. You can't usually get 87% of Americans to agree on anything except the importance of hamburgers and tv. So that is quite an achievement.
But here is the question that is gnawing at us: who are the 13% who approve of Congress' performance? Are they all lobbyists? A religious cult that worships doomed institutions? Space aliens? These people live among us. They may be in front of us on line at the supermarket. Or at the next pump at the gas station. What is it that they see that the rest of us dont? And how do we get the same prescription medication they must be taking? JL
Catalina Camia reports in USA Today:
Americans are fed up with the way Congress does its job, giving lawmakers record low approval ratings in the latest Gallup Poll. The 13% approval rating in the Gallup survey ties a mark set in December, shortly after voters went to the polls and threw Democrats out of power in the U.S. House and narrowed the party's majority in the U.S. Senate. The rating dropped 5 percentage points since early July. Disapproval of Congress is at 84%, 1 percentage point higher than in December.
"If Congress' ratings do not improve much before the November 2012 elections, its membership could be in line for another shake-up," writes Jeffrey Jones of Gallup.
The Gallup survey of 1,008 adults is the first since Congress approved a compromise deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling. President Obama signed the bitterly fought accord Aug. 2, which was aimed at averting a default on the government's obligations.
Standard & Poor's, however, downgraded U.S. debt for the first time and cited the "political brinkmanship" in Washington.
The debt fight has left Americans feeling negative toward House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who has been challenged all year by lawmakers eager to cut spending deeper and faster.
Americans have never really been that keen on Congress, giving lawmakers an average approval rating of about 34% since Gallup first began polling on this question in 1974.
Over time, the numbers for Congress have gone from bad to worse with an average of 19% approval in 2008, 2010 and 2011.
The poll, taken Aug. 11-14, has a margin of error of +/-4 percentage points.
1 comments:
They are asking the wrong question. It's not how well do you approve of congress, but how well do you approve of your representative. No change will happen until everyone disapproves of their congress member.
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