After nine months of contentious battles on Capitol Hill, Americans have reached a new level of disgust toward Congress that has left nearly all voters angry at their leaders and doubtful that they can fix the problems facing the country.
Whether Republican, Democrat or independent, more Americans disapprove of Congress than at any point in more than two decades of Washington Post-ABC News polling.
Just 14 percent of the public approves of the job Congress is doing, according to the latest poll. That is lower than just before the 1994, 2006 and 2010 elections, when the majority party was on the verge of losing power in the House.
For most it’s not just a casual dislike of Congress: Sixty-two percent say they “strongly disapprove” of congressional job performance. An additional 20 percent “somewhat” disapprove.
Only 3 percent of Americans said they “strongly approve” of the performance of lawmakers on Capitol Hill — essentially as low as possible, given the poll’s margin of error of four percentage points.
With Democrats running the Senate and Republicans in charge of the House, no group of voters is pleased. Just 18 percent of Democrats, 13 percent of independents and 13 percent of Republicans approve of Congress.
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5 Responses
Reading the entire article reveals news bits that are contrary to majority opinion on YWN…such as:
“…the president’s new jobs package, which is supported by a narrow majority of the public, has bolstered his position on the issue. He now holds a 49 to 34 percent advantage over congressional Republicans when it comes to the public’s trust on creating jobs. That is a change from September, when they were evenly split at 40 percent each.”
“It underscores the importance of this committee reaching a successful conclusion in a bipartisan agreement…[a]s Obama and Republicans spar over how the supercommittee should cut the deficit, more than six in 10 adults in the poll support a combination of spending cuts and taxes, while about three in 10 prefer spending cuts alone.”
While this would be significant if someone were arguing in favor of switching to a strong President system similar to France or Mexico (basically a dictator elected for a term with minimal legislative checks and balances), the data is largely irrelevant. We won’t be voting for “Congress vs President”. We’ll be voting for “Democrats” vs “Republicans”. The real question to ask is which party you blame.
Wrong akuperma…the data is compelling, and goes to a long-standing debate among political scientists over the relative merits of our system versus those of a parliamentary democracy.
In parliamentary democracies, which include among others the UK, Canada and Israel, voters elect a party, and the leader of he party then assumes the position of chief executive (President or Prime Minister)…in such a system one cannot have a paralyzed, divided government incapable of reaching compromise, as we have now in the United States.
An often cited quote goes as follows…and note the order of the two clauses:
“The disadvantage of a parliamentary system is that it can produce a lot of bad law quickly; the advantage of a parliamentary system is that it can produce a lot of good law quickly.”
…to make my point clearer to the uninitaited, let me restate it:
In parliamentary democracies, which include among others the UK, Canada and Israel, voters elect a party, and the leader of the winning party then assumes the position of chief executive (President or Prime Minister)…a unity of party betwen the legislature and executive is built in to the system.
If there is no majority party, the plurality party, generally, is tasked with forming a coalition. And when the “ruling” party goes out of favor, the parliament can initiate a “vote of no confidence” that, if successful, will force new elections.
In such a system one cannot have a paralyzed, divided government incapable of reaching compromise, as we have now in the United States.
But Americans won’t be voting for a form of government, we’ll be voting for a party to control the existing form, and there are only two meaningful choices in 2012: Democrats (Obama) and Republics (Cain, Perry or Romney). What people think of the Congress, especially with it “split” is largely irrelevant.