Congress Approval Rating Sinks to New Historic Lows

Congress Approval Rating Sinks to New Historic Lows

rt.com

Confidence in Congress has been on the decline ever since Gallup started measuring it in 1973 – a year when 42 percent of Americans claimed a favorable opinion. The latest Gallup poll shows that only 10 percent of Americans have confidence in Congress, which is down from 13 percent in 2012.

“Partisan bickering, gridlock, an inability to get things done – that’s what Americans are complaining about,” Frank Newport, Gallup’s editor-in-chief, told Bloomberg News.

The number ranks “the legislative body last on a list of 16 societal institutions for the fourth straight year,”

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Well, there is congress, you can look at it and be like "I hate you, congress." OR you can send some love its way, I dunno. Yay congress!

The low approval rating is probably because Congress has been spending a lot of its time on bipartisan bickering instead of doing its job. In some cases, congressmen have been accepting bribes from corporations instead of working for the people.

I swear no one has been paying enough attention to any of the bills that have been passed, and no one seems to be doing much critical thinking. And what about assertiveness?

The Executive Branch can just tell them what to do? A ten percent approval rating is fairly abysmal. I am fairly skeptical of Obama, although I do love his speeches.

I did do some research, because I was interested in what kind of approval ratings were present in previous unstable national situations.

TIL that the British crown had at least a 15% approval rating during the revolutionary war - higher than the current approval rating of the US Congress (13%). (upa.pdx.edu)

Reddit

Historian Robert Calhoon wrote concerning the proportion of loyalists and rebels: Historians' best estimates put the proportion of adult white male loyalists somewhere between 15 and 20 percent. Approximately half the colonists of European ancestry tried to avoid involvement in the struggle — some of them deliberate pacifists, others recent emigrants, and many more simple apolitical folk. The patriots received active support from perhaps 40 to 45 percent of the white populace, and at most no more than a bare majority.[1]

Loyalists_Thirteen_Colonies.pdf


(visit the link for the full news article)rt.com

reply to post by darkbake


What I'm worried about is the possibility that a Civil War or something is what is wanted. So hopefully things can get settled down with some problem solving.

reply to post by darkbake

10%? Hows it that high?

This poll has gotta be rigged.

Well well well, apparently the 2013 Congress was aiming to beat the 2012 Congress in terms of public loathing. Just last year, the approval rating was a meager 11%, which, at the time, was also a record setter. So seriously not good.

Well, hopefully when that nutjob Bachmann leaves the average IQ in the place will rise slightly and they just might get something done.

Rasmussen actually claims it to be worse than that.

Only six percent (6%) of Likely U.S. Voters give Congress good or excellent marks for the job it is doing, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Sixty-four percent (64%) rate its performance as poor.

RasmussenAs I said in another thread, the only people who believe the ones who govern are doing a good job are the truly naive and the governors themselves.

Sadly this doesn't even surprise me anymore at all, and in all honesty
i do actually believe this is the general opinion of most folks, i don't
think ive talked to a single government supporter in a very long time,
people are fed up with the BS completely at this point, it could and
should have been fixed long ago, odd though isn't it, no matter who
we elect it all seem to only get worse, dem, repub, conservative, liberal,
its all just a sham anymore.

Blarg i say.

Lets split that into 2 polls.

One for the senate and one for the House.

They are engaging in exact opposites with regards to constitutionality, will of the people, and what everyone knows is best for EVERYONE in America.

reply to post by tkwasny


That is true... here is some information about the House.

The House has several exclusive powers: the power to initiate revenue bills,[1] to impeach officials,[2] and to elect the U.S. President in case there is no majority in the Electoral College.[3]

The Constitution provides that the House may choose its own Speaker.[25] Although not explicitly required by the Constitution, every Speaker has been a member of the House.

The Constitution does not specify the duties and powers of the Speaker, which are instead regulated by the rules and customs of the House. Speakers have a role both as a leader of the House and the leader of their party (which need not be the majority party; theoretically, a member of the minority party could be elected as Speaker with the support of a fraction of members of the majority party).

Under the Presidential Succession Act (1947), the Speaker is second in the line of presidential succession behind the Vice President.

Each U.S. state is represented in the House in proportion to its population but is entitled to at least one representative. The most populous state, California, currently has 53 representatives. On the other end of the spectrum, there are seven states with only one representative.

The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435.[4] Each representative serves for a two-year term. The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, who presides over the chamber, is elected by the members of the House, and is therefore traditionally the leader of the House Democratic Caucus or the House Republican Conference, whichever party has more voting members.

Wikipedia: U.S. House of Representatives

The Senate has two people representing each state, for a total of 100 senators, but the house has more specific districts represented, and is based on the population of each state. It is interesting to me that there is a Republican majority, and that there is a large Tea Party constituent, considering higher population states tend to be Democrat.

However, the large Tea Party constituency may be a decent thing in this case if it helps to deal with constitutional issues, which, in my opinion, have gotten out of hand.

reply to post by GD21D


No kidding, does the 10% approval rating cover government and corporate officials I wonder? And members of the military? Anyone know the military's opinion?

But yeah... I am not surprised about this number... well, a bit surprised, it is super low.

reply to post by WhiteAlice


If the approval rating continues to drop below 10%, that seems pretty volatile.

What is weird about all this is that nobody likes the "other" congress critters but they sure do like the ones they vote into office.

Crazy stuff...

EXCELLENT post, darkbake!
S/F

I think you have opened up a very important debate here. I am completely disillusioned after the last few years of looking into "politics" and "economics" more deeply than I had before.

I'm also out of ideas (not that any of mine have been tried - HA! Like that's gonna happen.)

I suppose we have to "rely" on those same sketchy Congressmen to step up and do their jobs and the right thing for the MAJORITY of Americans, but I, at this point, would suggest impeachment and recall of those who have obviously betrayed our trust.

What a mess.

That is ok, because a recent poll said that tax payers love the spying that the government is doing on them

Originally posted by darkbake
reply to post by WhiteAlice

 

If the approval rating continues to drop below 10%, that seems pretty volatile.

Well, it's definitely not good. Considering that the approval rating has been at historic lows for the past two years (average previously is around upper 30's to mid 40's), it's a pretty good indicator that the majority of Americans are disenfranchised with the government. Whether or not it could turn volatile in a larger way is highly dependent on what Congress does. So far, they get nasty grumblings but if they were to form/pass legislation that dramatically affected the majority of Americans regardless of party line, then there would be trouble. People are still reasonably comfortable enough to complain/ignore. The perilously low approval rating, however, would affect individuals and would create an increased likelihood that violent events would be politicized and on the increase. Seems like just about every week a house or apartment filled with homemade bombs is found (this week--34 year old in NY). I suspect that at least some of these were intending to destabilize and push the issue but I can't be sure. I just know that this was the most probable outcome of said low approval rating that popped into my head a couple years ago. I could be suffering from confirmation bias though.

reply to post by darkbake


The few military people I know just want to get their time over with - morale is low (but that's only a few people so not representative of course). I bet the government themselves cast votes in those polls - thus the 10%.

Well that easily answers the question of whether the US government it tyrannical or not.

If they had any morals they would step down.

That's almost no public approval.

Not to mention they (and others) are openly abusing the world.

Of all the places in the universe how the heck did I end up on this God forsaken rock? lol

reply to post by darkbake

Congress Approval Rating Sinks to New Historic Lows

...And I'm sure they don't care in the least. They have no accountability and they continue to milk the American taxpayers with their large salaries and exotic benefits. They're all in it for the money. They have no concerns for the people who they represent.

There are over 71 senators and congressman over the age of 65. You have to ask yourself, what's keeping them there with all their aches and pains at that age? Something is surely attractive to them, considering they can relax and live a great retirement with their government pension. There's a reason why they don't want term limits.

reply to post by WhiteAlice


Yeah I suffer from bias all the time these days. It seems to me that it might be possible for another major event (like financial crisis) could lower the approval rating more... especially another recession. But apparently, Americans are really apathetic, all of Brazil is up in arms over increased bus fare.