Posted by D.
Cupples | The Moderate Voice comments on a CNN/Opinion Research Corp poll that gives Congress a record-low 75% disapproval rating:
"Republicans will argue it’s because the Democrats are more interested in making political statements than actually working for solutions. Democrats will argue that Republicans — with the White House’s veto backing — have a strategy to nix everything they try to do on the war and other matters so they can run against a 'do-nothing Congress'."
The MV is probably right, but CNN's reporting of the poll results is odd. It's a 4-page pdf that includes question 3 and 5 but not questions 1, 2, or 4. Of the 1,212 participants, half were asked about Congress and half specifically about "Democratic leaders" in Congress. The results:
Disapprove Approve Don't Know
Congress 75% 22% 3%
Dem Leaders 51% 43% 6%
What's missing? How people feel about Republicans in Congress. My guess is that more than 75% disapprove of congressional Republicans: given that 51% disapprove of Dems, a high disapproval of Republicans would likely be required to make Congress' overall disapproval rating 75%.
Other polls have asked the public to separately rate congressional Republicans and Democrats. For example...
A Gallup Poll (released September 25)
suggests that the public does distinguish between congressional Democrats and Republicans. Below are the
percentages of people who responded favorably to one party when asked
which party's politicians would do a better job on national security,
national prosperity, and overall:
Democrats Republicans
Overall 53% 38%
Prosperity 54% 34%
National Security 47% 42%
Below are some results from the latest Washington Post/ABC poll (released October 2):
Congress's Approval Rating 29%
Approve of Rs in Congress 29%
Approve of Ds in Congress 38%
Blame Ds for Congress's inaction 25%
Blame Ds & Rs for Congress's inaction 20%
Blame President & Rs for Congress' inaction 51%
(WaPo/ABC poll results, questions 4 & 1)
Political Science professor Sarah Binder at George Washington University suspects that high disapproval ratings stem from the public's awareness that Congress hasn't taken major action on major issues (e.g., healthcare, the economy, the Iraq war...).
And Congress likely can't at this point. Democrats have a decent majority in the House, but certainly not in the Senate. Here's the breakdown:
Ds Rs I's Vacancies
House 233 200 0 2
Senate 49 49 2 0
In other words, the House can pass all the problem-solving bills it wants -- and the Senate can keep defecating all over them, leaving our nation's problems unsolved.
Related BN-Politics Posts:
* Democrats So-Called "Control" of Congress
* New Poll: Record Low Approval of Bush & More
* Why Democrats Beat Republicans in Gallup Poll
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