Thread: Only 8% of Americans Want Members of Congress Re-Elected

Only 8% of Americans Want Members of Congress Re-Elected, Poll Finds

By Jonathan D. Salant
Fri Feb 12, 12:27 am ET

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Only 8 percent of Americans want the current members of Congress re-elected, according to a CBS News-New York Times poll taken nine months before roughly one-third of the Senate and the entire House face voters.

The Feb. 5-10 survey found 81 percent of respondents saying the lawmakers shouldn’t receive another term.

By 80 percent to 13 percent, Americans said members of Congress are more interested in serving special interests than the people they represent.

Also, 75 percent disapproved of the job Congress is doing, the highest level since 74 percent said they disapproved in October 2008. Congress’s job approval rating was 15 percent in the current survey; it was 12 percent in October 2008.

The new poll of 1,084 adults had a margin of error of plus- or-minus 3 percentage points.

Half of those surveyed said they wanted to abolish the filibuster in the U.S. Senate, the procedural move by which bills can be stalled unless 60 lawmakers vote to shut off debate, while 44 percent disagreed.

The job President Barack Obama is doing was approved of by 46 percent; disapproving were 45 percent. In a December CBS-New York Times poll, his approval rating was 50 percent, while 39 percent disapproved.

In the new poll, 60 percent of respondents said Obama understood people like themselves, compared with 42 percent for congressional Democrats and 35 percent for congressional Republicans.

Still, 53 percent said they disapproved of the way Obama is handling the economy, while 42 percent approved. And 55 percent said they disapproved of his handling of the health-care issue, while 35 percent approved.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net .

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20100 ... sowriv31_g

With So Much resentment and disdain for these politicians, HOW are they all in office and how do they get elected and re-elected? Shows what a stranglehold the 'elites' have on our government...