Some bad news for the Democrats in Congress

[Bucky]

The Republican Congress got punted by the voters last year because they'd lost the Mandate of Heaven. If you want to take a more scientific look at it, then note Congress's job approval rating was just before the election. If you average the job approval rating from all 14 major polls taken during the month of October 2006 (CBS/New York Times (twice), AP-AOL, Diageo/Hotline, USA Today/Gallup (twice), ABC/Washington Post (twice), NBC/Wall Street Journal, Gallup, FOX/Opinion Dynamics, CNN, Time, and AP-Ipsos) The Republican Congress was kicked out with an average approval rate of 26.9% and an average disapproval rate of 65.8%.

There were seven major polls taken during February 2007 (FOX/Opinion Dynamics, CBS/New York Times, ABC/Washington Post, Diageo/Hotline, CBS, AP-Ipsos, and Gallup). Those polls averaged the Democratic Congress approval at 34.1% and disapproval at 53.3%. This is essentially unchanged from January--Congress got off to an unpopular start.

In the four polls taken in March so far (CBS/New York Times, NBC/Wall Street Journal, AP-Ipsos, and Gallup) Congress is doing worse already. The March averages are 30.8% approve and 58.3 disapprove. In other words, on four approval points above where the Republicans were after 12 years of corruption and 7.5 disapproval points below where they were when the people fired them.

Source: Polling Report.com

[Lithos]

1. They are fighting the results of 12 years of bad government

It will take time for the perception to change. BTW, this typically happens - the GOP screws things up and the Dems get to do the heavy lifting to fix it.

[annabanana]

2. Well lets see what happens if they start to get some results..

The investigations are going forward.

I wonder what the figures would be if Congress got a little more press, and the lost kid, dead +/or drunk starlette, teacher/student liasons got a little less?

[kikiek]

3. Yeah well it takes some time to clear the shit from the boots. Then the smell lingers. With

the mess the Democrats in congress are facing, it is going to take more than a couple of months to clear a path. How stupid is that to say doing worse already.

[bklyncowgirl]

4. Do something about the war and maybe those poll numbers will start to rise. nt

[noamnety]

8. bingo

As long as they fund the war, my approval of them is nonexistent.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Unrealistic expectations by the public.

This democratic Congress will continue to get mediocre ratings just because of the ratio between the two parties. If the public voted to "change" both houses of Congress, it did with ambivalence as it didn't put enough democrats in office for a supermajority to override expected vetoes by the president, who is of the opposition party. The public wants microwave results and it just can't have them under the present circumstances. Congress can draft and pass bills, but what realistically are the chances of them being signed and enacted, and even if signed and enacted, qualified and nullified by expected "signing statements".

Thus, the public wants it both ways: Change it fast and if you don't, we will hold you in contempt of being hypocrits to your promises last election. We don't want to hear about constitutional constraints. Just change it, change it now -- or else.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. But Congress ALWAYS has negative polling...

throughout history.

That's the way it's always been-- "Congress sucks, but MY congresscritter is pretty good."

So it's not such bad news.

Not even news.

[papau]

9. very true - curious that it was published. n/t

n/t

[terrya]

7. For fuck's sake, they've only been in power for 2 months.

It's going to take some time to clean up this mess. Rome wasn't built in a day, so to speak.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

10. Don't you think that if we persued Impeachment and voted to ending war funding the polling

numbers would go up?