Thread: CONGRESS INCUMBENTS HIT HISTORIC LOWS IN POLLS...

Congress poll is Capitol hell

Voters' support for incumbents hits historic low

Comments: 18
By MAGGIE HABERMAN
Last Updated: 10:09 AM, February 17, 2010
Posted: 3:53 AM, February 17, 2010

Just when you thought Congress couldn't reach a new low, it did.

Only a third of US voters think their Congress members have earned the right to get sent back next year -- a record-low number, a poll released yesterday shows.

Thirty-four percent of voters queried think members of the House and the Senate ought to be re-elected -- while an astonishing 63 percent were in favor of throwing the bums out, the new CNN poll showed.

That's the worst performance for Congress in the history of the network's polling -- the latest red flag for the floundering Democratic leadership as it heads into an anti-incumbent voter wave just eight months before the midterm elections.

"This is not a good year to be an incumbent, regardless of which party you belong to," CNN polling director Keating Holland said.

"Voters seem equally angry at both Republicans and Democrats this year."

And the electorate is unsettled all around. Forty-five percent of the voters say they will back a Democrat in their congressional district, and 47 percent say they will go for the Republican -- whoever that may be in either case.

When it comes just to the House of Representatives, just 51 percent of people believe the member for their district deserves to get re-elected, while 44 percent are giving their reps a thumbs-down, according to the survey.

The numbers show no major party getting a strong advantage.

But Holland said that fact "may hurt the Democrats more because there are more Democratic incumbents."

He added: "It's a change from 2006, when voters concentrated their anger at GOP members of Congress."

On the question of whether current members of the House ought to be re-elected, the numbers are lower than in 1994, when Bill Clinton's presidency suffered mightily as Republicans took control of Congress in a 54-seat swing.

Right now, the Democrats hold a 255-178 edge in the House.

The Republicans are pressing to find challengers for almost any Democrat in marginal districts, given new impetus after Scott Brown's Senate victory for the GOP in Massachusetts.

President Obama isn't doing much to boost his party, either -- with his approval rating at 49 percent. Just 44 percent think he deserves to be re-elected.

The survey was taken from Friday through Monday of 1,023 people and had a 3-percentage- point margin of error.

Several members of Congress have expressed frustration over the partisan gridlock.

"People are almost in a parallel universe," Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said yesterday. "They are not getting a common set of facts and most of the people they talk to are those who agree with them."

maggie.haberman@nypost.com

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/c ... TpC6x1wrhP

Sorry but Barney Fudd is in another universe. He's been involved in politics for too long, and needs to go into the private sector to see what it's like to really have to look for work.