Thread: Congressional Approval Falls to Single Digits for First Time

Performance

Congressional Approval Falls to Single Digits for First Time Ever
Tuesday, July 08, 2008

The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category.

Last month, 11% of voters gave the legislature good or excellent ratings. Congress has not received higher than a 15% approval rating since the beginning of 2008.

The percentage of Democrats who give Congress positive ratings fell from 17% last month to 13% this month. The number of Democrats who give Congress a poor rating remained unchanged. Among Republicans, 8% give Congress good or excellent ratings, up just a point from last month. Sixty-five percent (65%) of GOP voters say Congress is doing a poor job, down a single point from last month.

Voters not affiliated with either party are the most critical of Congressional performance. Just 3% of those voters give Congress positive ratings, down from 6% last month. Sixty-three percent (63%) believe Congress is doing a poor job, up from 57% last month.

Just 12% of voters think Congress has passed any legislation to improve life in this country over the past six months. That number has ranged from 11% to 13% throughout 2008. The majority of voters (62%) say Congress has not passed any legislation to improve life in America.

Voters hold little positive sentiment about the future. Just 41% find it at least somewhat likely that Congress will address important problems facing our nation in the near future, while 55% find this unlikely.

Despite these negative attitudes towards Congress, Democrats continue to enjoy a double digit lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Most voters (72%) think most members of Congress are more interested in furthering their own political careers. Just 14% believe members are genuinely interested in helping people.

A separate Rasmussen survey found that half of all voters believe America’s best days are in the past. However, another survey found that 64% of voters also believe that the world would be a better place if more countries were similar to the United States.

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Originally Posted by AirborneSapper7

Performance

Congressional Approval Falls to Single Digits for First Time Ever
Tuesday, July 08, 2008

The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job.

Many of them are just simply mentally ill. It is reflected in the idea they have of 'comprehensive immigration reform'; if the American people are against the influx of illegal aliens you "solve" the problem by making it worse which is to attract more illegal aliens into the country and call them citizens so the original problem is covered over by a larger problem and called a "solution".

Congress members have become Big Businesses hand puppets and until we start voting in new people instead of the incumbent lifers it will continue.

They Fiddle while the US burns !!!!

Send those old people to nursing homes and elect people who care about this country. There are plenty who do care. Time in office only corrupts the politicians. Replace them with younger patriotic leaders.

Congress' approval plunges to 9 percent
1st time ever rating for lawmakers sinks to single digits

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 08, 2008
8:35 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

This month's release of Rasmussen Reports' survey of congressional approval ratings serves a scathing reproach of politicians on Capitol Hill. For the first time since Rasmussen has been tracking congressional approval ratings, less than 10 percent of Americans say Congress is doing a good or excellent job.

Against President Bush's much-publicized poor approval ratings, today's poll shows Congress' numbers have plunged to less than a third of the president's.

The most recent report calculates a mere 9 percent approve of congressional performance, while a majority of Americans, 52 percent, say Congress is doing a poor job, which also ties a record high.

The Democrat-controlled Congress enjoys its highest rating among Democrat respondents, 13 percent of whom rated the Congress favorably. Only 8 percent of Republicans were willing to say Congress is doing a good job, while an almost non-existent 3 percent of unaffiliated voters gave Congress a positive rating.


The polling company also asked respondents if they thought Congress has passed any legislation in the last six months to improve life in this country. 12 percent said yes, while 62 percent said Congress has done nothing to improve life in America. A further 55 percent said it was unlikely that Congress would do anything in the near future to address important problems facing the nation.

Despite dismal ratings for the Democrat Congress, another Rasmussen Report released today shows Americans are unwilling to vote the majority party out of office. When given the choice, 47 percent of voters said they would vote for their district's Democratic candidate, while 34 percent said they would vote Republican.

In related Rasmussen Reports, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama holds a 6 percent lead over rival John McCain (46 percent to 40 percent) in a poll released today, and President Bush scored a 32 percent approval rating in a poll released last week.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php? ... geId=69088

Moving to the ALIPAC News section.

W

Congress frets as its ratings plummet
Poll: Only 12 percent of Americans have much confidence in the legislative branch, a record low.
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the July 8, 2008 edition

Daily podcast | 07.07.08 Pat Murphy talks with
Monitor staff writer Gail Chaddock about low public approval ratings for Congress: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0708/p03s04-uspo.html

Washington - Members of Congress are used to working in an institution that gets no respect, but a recent plunge to the bottom of confidence ratings – and a week back home with constituents riled over gas prices – is raising alarms even on thick-skinned Capitol Hill.

Some Democrats blame the Republicans, especially GOP senators who have used procedural maneuvers to block votes on key legislation.

"It's worrisome, but I understand it: The strategy of the Republicans has been to stop anything from happening – and people think that nothing is being done to help their lives," says Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) of Michigan.

Some Republicans worry that the public doesn't know enough about Congress to blame the right party.

"Not only does Congress have an approval rating below bubonic plague and head lice, I saw a recent poll that as many as 40 percent of people still believe that Congress is in Republican hands," says Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R) of Texas. "I wish we could get a little accuracy out there about who is in charge – and let those ratings fall where they may."

A recent Gallup Poll confirms what many lawmakers say they're hearing from their constituents: that confidence in Congress has never been lower. Only 12 percent of Americans say they have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in Congress as an institution – the lowest level ever for any US institution since Gallup began asking the question 35 years ago. Congressional job approval, a slightly different question, has dropped to 18 percent.

Pollsters say it's tough to sort out why Congress now ranks so low. "In general, Americans are responding negatively to everything we put in front of them," says Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll in Princeton, N.J. Government institutions, especially, are at or near their lowest ratings to date.

But when pollsters ask if voters think that their local member of Congress deserves to be reelected, the response is usually positive. More than 90 percent of incumbents who opt to stay in Congress are typically reelected.

"Typically, the local congressman is held in higher regard as a person than the institution they're a part of," says Mr. Newport. It's a trend pollsters also see in questions about confidence in the medical system, public education, and law enforcement, he adds.

This view that voters can at the same time harbor contempt for Congress but also respect for their local congressman has settled into the culture on Capitol Hill.

"When times are very tough as they are now, people feel upset, and I don't think folks distinguish between the House of Representatives and the Senate," says Rep. Paul Hodes (D) of New Hampshire. "What they see is that Congress isn't helping or that Congress hasn't been able to get it done. [But] my constituents will see that I'm on the right side of the issues they care about."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi links the low ratings to Congress's inability to end the war in Iraq or deliver on promises to lower gas prices. "I think one of the reasons that Congress is at an all-time low in confidence with the American people is that we did not end the war – and these issues that relate to energy," she said at a Monitor breakfast on June 24.

"The problem is overwhelmingly the 60-vote requirement [to end a filibuster] in the Senate," says Rep. Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts. "If we could resolve that, we would be better off."

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R) of North Carolina, who has often squared off with Mr. Frank, says that he could say "it's a Democrat thing, because it's a Democrat-controlled Congress, but it's really due to the fact that we're not addressing the American people's problems: high gas prices, out-of-control spending, soft economy, and the housing crunch."

"Generally, the American people are sour on our economic outlook and all institutions," he adds. "I tell constituents that I'm fighting the crowd up here as much as I can."

"The public sees us as mired in partisan bickering in the face of persistent problems that remain to be addressed," says freshman Rep. Hank Johnson (D) of Georgia. "Though I disagree with that sentiment, I certainly understand it. But notwithstanding that popular sentiment, the public generally likes their individual representatives. Those who do not have their confidence will not come back."

added to the homepage with the following note

ALIPAC NOTE: Please contact all incumbents and challenger candidates to make sure they understand that illegal immigration and the lack of adequate immigration enforcement and border security are driving these numbers down along with the economy. Christian Science Monitor poll shows Congressional approval levels falling to 12%. Ramussen Reports show approval levels for Congress falling to 9%!

http://www.alipac.us/article3342.html

You are so right " W ". Reading the article and all the finger pointing Not one Congress-person stated that reason , Illegal Immigration .
Citizens are seeing our real government , some for the first time and they don't like it . A government beholdiing to Corporate America is "No Government at all". Ramo and Compean still sit in jail , they are very angry bout that railroad .

It will fall even farther today if the House Ways and Means Committee scuttles the E-verify system today. We need to get this out to the radio shows and TV shows today.