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Approval of Congress at 9%

T

Tyrannosaur

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I had no idea Congress had such a low approval rating, I mean, I know they don't generally get anything done, but still.

As members of Congress and the president haggle over ways to reduce the federal budget deficit, ratings for the bicameral legislature have fallen to the lowest level since late 2008.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that nine percent (9%) now say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Fifty-six percent (56%) rate the Congressional performance as poor.

Positive grades for the legislators are down from 13% last month and are the lowest measured since December 2008. The number of voters who give Congress a poor grade is up seven points from last month and is the highest negative review since Republicans took control of the House in January.

Read more: » Approval of Congress at 9% Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!
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I'm assuming that congressional members, aides, and flunkies with their families equal 9% of the population.
 
Non-story. It's not as if they were ever favored highly.
 
What? With the huge republcian win!!!! How can this be?



:coffeepap


It really isn't a story. Congress never does well. It doesn't matter the party either. Yet, they do seem to keep the same guys most of the time no matter how low they poll. Go figure.
 
Tyrannosaur said:
I had no idea Congress had such a low approval rating, I mean, I know they don't generally get anything done, but still.
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The idea was Congress shouldn't get too much done. Only that which proved critical. Socialist programs and mega spending wasn't the idea.

Congress should have been prevented by law from setting foot within DC 50-weeks a year unless it was a national emergency.

.
 
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Boo Radley said:
it just doesn't usually translate into anything. It's how people see their own congress criter that matters.
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I agree. However, while it might not be that big of a story, 9% approval isn't a non-story either.
 
soccerboy22 said:
I agree. However, while it might not be that big of a story, 9% approval isn't a non-story either.
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I'm already spending more time on it than I think it warrants, but things that have no effect largely aren't big stories. It's just an OK thing. We have so much **** thrown at us today it's a wonder anyone has a rating above -10.
 
Jaaaman said:
A 9% approval rating of Congressional members is a non-story? Wow... you must live in a different world than I do.
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Whenever the economy or other issues are in the tank Congress gets a low rating - when things are good then congress is rated well.

It's more of a happiness meter for us citizens than anything else. . . .I don't value it much.
 
It is indicative of a need for a Constitutional Convention to open up the Constitution and take the $$$Power$$$ away from Congress and the President, and return it to WE THE PEOPLE. Let me express the nasty refrain; Why should I have to pay for programs I oppose? Let me support the programs I want, and you support the programs you want.

But first we need an All Volunteer Party to capture a majority of State & Congressional seats in congress.
 
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Viktyr Korimir said:
I'd like to see those numbers.
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I've seen polls on that before, although not in a while. Although people give Congress as a whole bad numbers, they give their own congresscritter higher numbers, which is why these lunatics keep getting reelected.
 
danarhea said:
I've seen polls on that before, although not in a while. Although people give Congress as a whole bad numbers, they give their own congresscritter higher numbers, which is why these lunatics keep getting reelected.
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That is odd isn't it. Kind of a "My congressman is great because he brings pork barrel home to us , but yours sucks".
 
Crosscheck said:
That is odd isn't it. Kind of a "My congressman is great because he brings pork barrel home to us , but yours sucks".
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The American people aren't too hard on themselves when it comes to double standards in the country's political culture. When your convictions don't seem to matter you aren't too troubled to be responsible for them.
 
Crosscheck said:
That is odd isn't it. Kind of a "My congressman is great because he brings pork barrel home to us , but yours sucks".
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Not that odd. This kind of blatant moral hypocrisy extends throughout human civilization. Most people never even realize it.
 
Of course, we'll still see a 90% incumbent victory rate in 2012.
 
That is an extraordinarily low rating, however, I would also stress that for much of our known measures, approval rating for congress has been very low historically.
 
Crosscheck said:
That is odd isn't it. Kind of a "My congressman is great because he brings pork barrel home to us , but yours sucks".
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That is how it works. James Q. Wilson wrote about it beautifully in his work Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It:

Critics call this "pork barreling" and argue that it is wrong. One critic, President Jimmy Carter, tried to reduce it by vetoing a bill providing funds for a number of local water projects. What got cut instead was his political neck: He failed, and alienated Congress in the process. Despite its association with highway contractors and military facilities, pork is not limited to bridges, sewer systems, and naval bases. It includes public parks, waste-site cleanups, and university research projects. It benefits liberals as much as conservatives. This suggests that porking (as it is sometimes called) is not an aberration in American politics but a fundamental aspect of it. It is the logical and inevitable outcome of a system that requires legislators to serve local interests more than party interests and that endows Congress with independent power over the bureaucracy.
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Likewise, as has been alluded to, individual approval ratings per Congressperson are far higher. It is, rather, a national perception that causes the low ratings. Again, this is how it works.

I do not wish to seem strange, but I significantly stand by the notion that I have a hard time joining those who decry the American political system, no matter if they are liberal or conservative. Just a tad bit too much utopianism coming from many mouths, for me. I do not see our leaders as nutters, incompetents, or morally deviant beings. I just see many of us citizens as incessant whiners who have unrealistic demands, however well-meaning they are.
 
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Fiddytree said:
That is how it works. James Q. Wilson wrote about it beautifully in his work Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It:



Likewise, as has been alluded to, individual approval ratings per Congressperson are far higher. It is, rather, a national perception that causes the low ratings. Again, this is how it works.

I do not wish to seem strange, but I significantly stand by the notion that I have a hard time joining those who decry the American political system, no matter if they are liberal or conservative. Just a tad bit too much utopianism coming from many mouths, for me. I do not see our leaders as nutters, incompetents, or morally deviant beings. I just see many of us citizens as incessant whiners who have unrealistic demands, however well-meaning they are.
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You know, I largely agree.
 
Fiddytree said:
I do not wish to seem strange, but I significantly stand by the notion that I have a hard time joining those who decry the American political system, no matter if they are liberal or conservative. Just a tad bit too much utopianism coming from many mouths, for me. I do not see our leaders as nutters, incompetents, or morally deviant beings. I just see many of us citizens as incessant whiners who have unrealistic demands, however well-meaning they are.
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They are products of the system that made them, no more and no less. They do what they are rewarded for doing and avoid what punishes them; angels could not do better with the system as it is established.

And thus, if we find the results to be suboptimal, it is the system that needs to be changed. Blaming the actors for doing what we demanded of them is foolish.
 
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