Democratic Controlled Congress Reaches Historical Low Approval Rating

Only 18% approve of the job Congress is doing.

A new Gallup Poll finds Congress' approval rating the lowest it has been since Gallup first tracked public opinion of Congress with this measure in 1974. Only 18% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, while 76% disapprove:

That 18% job approval rating matches the low recorded in March 1992, when a check-bouncing scandal was one of several scandals besetting Congress, leading many states to pass term limits measures for U.S. representatives (which the Supreme Court later declared unconstitutional). Congress had a similarly low 19% approval rating during the energy crisis in the summer of 1979.

There isn't the usual partisan divide in this poll. The lack of approval spans the political spectrum:

There are only minor (but not statistically meaningful) differences in the approval ratings Democrats (21%), Republicans (18%), and independents (17%) give to Congress. Typically, partisans view Congress much more positively when their party is in control of the institution, so the fact that Democrats' ratings are not materially better than Republicans' is notable.

The nine-point drop in Congress' job approval rating from last month to this month has come exclusively from Democrats and independents, with Democrats' ratings dropping 11 points (from 32% to 21%) and independents' ratings dropping 13 points (from 30% to 17%). Republicans' 18% approval rating is unchanged from last month.

Dr. Frank Newport explains it all in the following video:

Maybe if the Democratic Congressional leadership stood on some principle instead of pandering to left wing extemists the approval rating would improve.

Comments

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