Disapproval of Congress rose to an all-time high after weeks of rancorous partisan battles over raising the U.S. debt ceiling took the country to the brink of default, according a New York Times/CBS News public opinion poll published on Thursday.
A record 82 percent of Americans now say they disapprove of the way Congress is doing its job, compared with 14 percent who approve, the poll found.
The disapproval rating for Congress was the highest in the 34 years the question has been asked in the poll and up from the previous high of 77 percent set in May 2010.
Congress approved a $2.1 trillion deficit-cutting plan just before an Aug 2. deadline for raising the U.S. borrowing authority. The deal to lift the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling was signed into law with just hours to spare before the government was due to run out of money to pay all its bills.
Seventy-two percent of the poll respondents disapproved of the way Republicans in Congress handled the debt ceiling negotiations, while 60 percent disapproved of the way Congressional Democrats acted to resolve the crisis.
Half of those polled said the debt ceiling agreement should have included increased tax revenue, which Republicans fought, as well as spending cuts. Forty-four percent said the agreement should have relied on spending cuts alone.
An overwhelming majority, 82 percent, said the debt ceiling fight was more about gaining political advantage than doing what is best for the country.
More than half said they think Republicans compromised too little while 34 percent said President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress did not compromise enough.
The responders were more evenly divided over how Obama handled the negotiations, with 47 percent disapproving and 46 expressing approval. Obama’s overall job approval rating remained steady at 48 percent.
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
6 Responses
Hopefully, Obama will get only 48% of the electoral votes in 2012.
I am surprised that as many as 14% approved of the way congress is doing the country.
A careful reading of those numbers suggest increased polarization rather than disapproval of the Congress as a whole. The liberals want the Congress to be more liberal, and the conservatives want the Congress to be more conservative. The liberals disapprove of the conservatives, and vice versa. Both groups are frustrated that the Congress won’t approve their respective, and mutually exclusive agendas.
In a parliamentary system, this would result in a new election which would resolve the matter one way or another. However we don’t have a monarch who can dissolve parliament when its gets disfunctional, so we’ll have to wait until January 2013.
Its interesting that this poll doesn’t even come close to most other polls out there that were 70% beind the Conservatives in the Debt issue. I would bet their polling data was completely weighted toward this FAKE outcome. They probably surveyed 1000 registered democrats (aka people with no saychil) and 1000 obama family members who are blinded by color.
The Reuters article also reports the disapproval percentages for the two parties in Congress; 72% disapproval for the GOP; 60% disapproval for the Democrats. Just the facts.
I disapprove of the GOP also, because of the way they wimp out. Maybe that’s what they meant. I can’t believe that only 60% disapprove of the dems. It should be about 98%.