Congress Isn't Doing Such A Good Job
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Gary [email protected]
When they took over - as either party is wont to do when they take over - they told us how they were going to change things.
They were going to get things done. They were going to make Congress more accountable. They were going to bring the troops home.
Remember the first 100 hours?
Well, if you ask Americans how they've done so far the answer is pretty abysmal.
The latest Congressional job approval rating is at 24 percent according to a Gallup Poll taken this month. That's the lowest since the Demos took over in January. In February, it was not stellar at 37 percent, but now the bottom seems to be dropping out.
Interestingly, Democrats and Republicans polled are almost equally disapproving of Congress.
The survey was taken June 11-14.
Gallup analyst Joseph Carroll says the poll showed 24 percent of Americans approve of the way Congress is handling its job while 71 percent disapprove.
The current number is similar to the ratings Congress was getting last year, which is precisely why Americans voted the Republicans out in the first place.
Guess what? The Democrats aren't doing any better.
And even Democrats polled see it that way.
Carroll notes that after Democrats took over Congress, Democrats were more likely than Independents or Republicans to approve of Congress.
That, of course, makes perfect sense.
But since then, even among Democrats polled, Congress' ratings have fallen - from a high of 43 percent in April, to 37 percent in May, to 29 percent in June.
During the same time period, Republican approval ratings for this Congress was fairly constant in the the mid-20s.
So, with a +/-3 percent margin of error, this poll shows Democrats are within a couple polling points of disliking this Congress as much as Republicans.
Who would have thought?
Gallup did another interesting survey during that June 11-14 time period - its annual update on Americans' confidence in institutions.
They asked respondents if they had a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in 16 American institutions.
The results:
Military, 69 percent
Small business, 59 percent
Police, 54 percent
Church, 46 percent
Banks, 41 percent
Supreme court, 34 percent
Public schools, 33 percent
Medical system, 31 percent
Presidency, 25 percent
Television news, 23 percent
Newspapers, 22 percent
Criminal justice system, 19 percent
Organized labor, 19 percent
Big business, 18 percent
HMOs, 14 percent
Congress, 14 percent
Interestingly, the Congress number - 14 percent - is the lowest in Gallup's history of this measure.
It's also - obviously - the lowest of any of the institutions tested in the survey. How odd that Americans have more confidence in things like big business, organized labor and newspapers than Congress.
Historically, 14 percent is one of the lowest confidence ratings for any institution ever tested over the last three decades, according to Gallup analyst Frank Newport.
Now there's a ringing endorsement for the people charged with governing us, eh?
It's crazy. It makes W's 32 percent approval rating look darn impressive?
But frankly, I can see why.
I think, generally, Americans are just fed up with politics and government.
There is so much information out there these days, with all the blogging and podcasts and streaming videos, I think people area starting to get a pretty good sense of what goes on in Congress.
It used to be only political junkies who watched C-SPAN were aware of how futile and petty the actions of Congress are.
More than ever before, mainstream America is getting a good sense of the level of nonsensical partisanship and disingenuous demagoguery in Congress.
And - as the poll reflects - the party is irrelevant. The vast majority of people, regardless of party affiliation, have little or no faith in Congress.
It's easy to see why.
Ask yourself this simple question. Which issue is Congress handling properly?
Quick, name one.
Is it the war in Iraq?
How about foreign policy?
How about health care? Social Security? Immigration? Education? Homeland security?
No? None of those?
How about the federal budget? Jobs? Taxes? Welfare? Energy? Environment?
Are Republicans and Democrats working together to solve any of these issues? Are they working together to solve anything?
Members of Congress have completely lost sight of doing what's right for America.
They don't think about citizenship or statesmanship. All they think about is getting re-elected and retaining power. They do this by beating down the ideas of the people in the other party.
It's an interesting phenomenon with an amazing set of unintended consequences.
Politicians try so hard to get our votes that the percentage of us who actually vote keeps falling.
And politicians try so hard to please their party's base with their partisan rhetoric that only a tiny percentage of us approve of them or have confidence in them.
Rare is the politician who will stand on principal regardless of political or electoral fallout.
(A glaring exception is W and his Iraq policy. He believes - right or wrong, agree or disagree - that his Iraq policy is in the best interest of the U.S.)
I remember when I was very young my dad told me something I will never forget. He told me that Republicans looked out for the rich guy and Democrats looked out for the little guy.
He was probably right nearly 40 years ago when he told me that. And at least politicians were looking out for somebody.
I don't think he'd offer the same assessment today.
Today he would say politicians - regardless of party - look out for themselves.
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When they took over - as either party is wont to do when they take over - they told us how they were going to change things.
They were going to get things done. They were going to make Congress more accountable. They were going to bring the troops home.
Remember the first 100 hours?
Well, if you ask Americans how they've done so far the answer is pretty abysmal.
The latest Congressional job approval rating is at 24 percent according to a Gallup Poll taken this month. That's the lowest since the Demos took over in January. In February, it was not stellar at 37 percent, but now the bottom seems to be dropping out.
Interestingly, Democrats and Republicans polled are almost equally disapproving of Congress.
The survey was taken June 11-14.
Gallup analyst Joseph Carroll says the poll showed 24 percent of Americans approve of the way Congress is handling its job while 71 percent disapprove.
The current number is similar to the ratings Congress was getting last year, which is precisely why Americans voted the Republicans out in the first place.
Guess what? The Democrats aren't doing any better.
And even Democrats polled see it that way.
Carroll notes that after Democrats took over Congress, Democrats were more likely than Independents or Republicans to approve of Congress.
That, of course, makes perfect sense.
But since then, even among Democrats polled, Congress' ratings have fallen - from a high of 43 percent in April, to 37 percent in May, to 29 percent in June.
During the same time period, Republican approval ratings for this Congress was fairly constant in the the mid-20s.
So, with a +/-3 percent margin of error, this poll shows Democrats are within a couple polling points of disliking this Congress as much as Republicans.
Who would have thought?
Gallup did another interesting survey during that June 11-14 time period - its annual update on Americans' confidence in institutions.
They asked respondents if they had a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in 16 American institutions.
The results:
Military, 69 percent
Small business, 59 percent
Police, 54 percent
Church, 46 percent
Banks, 41 percent
Supreme court, 34 percent
Public schools, 33 percent
Medical system, 31 percent
Presidency, 25 percent
Television news, 23 percent
Newspapers, 22 percent
Criminal justice system, 19 percent
Organized labor, 19 percent
Big business, 18 percent
HMOs, 14 percent
Congress, 14 percent
Interestingly, the Congress number - 14 percent - is the lowest in Gallup's history of this measure.
It's also - obviously - the lowest of any of the institutions tested in the survey. How odd that Americans have more confidence in things like big business, organized labor and newspapers than Congress.
Historically, 14 percent is one of the lowest confidence ratings for any institution ever tested over the last three decades, according to Gallup analyst Frank Newport.
Now there's a ringing endorsement for the people charged with governing us, eh?
It's crazy. It makes W's 32 percent approval rating look darn impressive?
But frankly, I can see why.
I think, generally, Americans are just fed up with politics and government.
There is so much information out there these days, with all the blogging and podcasts and streaming videos, I think people area starting to get a pretty good sense of what goes on in Congress.
It used to be only political junkies who watched C-SPAN were aware of how futile and petty the actions of Congress are.
More than ever before, mainstream America is getting a good sense of the level of nonsensical partisanship and disingenuous demagoguery in Congress.
And - as the poll reflects - the party is irrelevant. The vast majority of people, regardless of party affiliation, have little or no faith in Congress.
It's easy to see why.
Ask yourself this simple question. Which issue is Congress handling properly?
Quick, name one.
Is it the war in Iraq?
How about foreign policy?
How about health care? Social Security? Immigration? Education? Homeland security?
No? None of those?
How about the federal budget? Jobs? Taxes? Welfare? Energy? Environment?
Are Republicans and Democrats working together to solve any of these issues? Are they working together to solve anything?
Members of Congress have completely lost sight of doing what's right for America.
They don't think about citizenship or statesmanship. All they think about is getting re-elected and retaining power. They do this by beating down the ideas of the people in the other party.
It's an interesting phenomenon with an amazing set of unintended consequences.
Politicians try so hard to get our votes that the percentage of us who actually vote keeps falling.
And politicians try so hard to please their party's base with their partisan rhetoric that only a tiny percentage of us approve of them or have confidence in them.
Rare is the politician who will stand on principal regardless of political or electoral fallout.
(A glaring exception is W and his Iraq policy. He believes - right or wrong, agree or disagree - that his Iraq policy is in the best interest of the U.S.)
I remember when I was very young my dad told me something I will never forget. He told me that Republicans looked out for the rich guy and Democrats looked out for the little guy.
He was probably right nearly 40 years ago when he told me that. And at least politicians were looking out for somebody.
I don't think he'd offer the same assessment today.
Today he would say politicians - regardless of party - look out for themselves.
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