Support for Congress can get worse after all
Support for Congress can get worse after all
By Steve Benen
It seems there are quite a few headlines today about President Obama's approval rating slipping, and while it's obvious his support dipped a bit from its post-inaugural highs, the president is still in decent shape. The new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll has Obama's overall approval at 45%, though Gallup has him at 46%, and the latest ABC/Washington Post poll has the president at 49%. These aren't great numbers, but they're not necessarily evidence of a systemic problem, either.
That said, if the political world is interested in an institution with weak public standing, I might recommend the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.
The new NBC/WSJ results show Congress' approval rating at 12%, with 83% disapproving. When was the last time support for Congress was this awful? NBC/WSJ have been doing national polls for about two decades, and it's never been this bad...this number could get considerably worse if congressional Republicans kill immigration reform, force a debt ceiling crisis, and threaten a government shutdown.
Indeed, the closer one looks at the poll, the worse things appear for the legislative branch. Obama's personal favorability is 48%, while for House Speaker John Boehner, it's 18%. Only 22% believe congressional Republicans emphasize unifying the country, while 67% believe they prioritize partisanship. A 56% majority believe GOP lawmakers are "too inflexible" when dealing with the White House.
And a 51% majority wants Republicans to stop holding votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
- more -
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/07/24/19660914-support-for-congress-can-get-worse-after-all
That new meme (
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023338992) isn't likely to work.