Poll: Views of Congress (again) hit new low

CBS

CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto

Americans' perception of Congress remains historically low.

A new CBS News poll finds that just 11 percent of Americans approve of the job being done by Congress. That's down from 12 percent last month and reflects a new low in the CBS News poll, though the 1 percent drop is not statistically significant.

Eighty percent of Americans - four out of five - disapprove of Congress' performance. That includes 78 percent of Republicans, 86 percent of Democrats and 77 percent of independents.

Americans have long held a dim view of Congress, though the numbers have grown increasingly negative this year. In February, 24 percent approved of Congress' performance; by August, that number had fallen to 14 percent, while the disapproval rating rose from 62 percent to 82 percent.

Asked whether Republicans and Democrats will be able to come together to pass a jobs package, Americans were pessimistic, with three in four calling it unlikely. Just 3 percent were very optimistic, while 20 percent where somewhat optimistic.

Forty-three percent, meanwhile, were not very optimistic about getting a jobs bill passed and 32 percent were not at all optimistic. The percentage who are not at all optimistic has increased 10 points since last month.

More from the poll:

Poll: Most want taxes on millionaires increased
Poll: 7 in 10 say Obama has not helped economy
Poll: Just 1 in 5 Americans happy with direction of country
Poll: Nearly 2 in 3 want troops in Afghanistan decreased
Poll: Half of U.S. says Afghan war not a success
Read the complete poll (PDF)

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This poll was conducted by telephone from September 28-October 2, 2011 among 1,012 adults nationwide. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

[gonetwicenow]

All should be removed at the next election ALL of Them. LEAVE NONE THERE REMOVE THEM ALL<

[magik1369]

Who really cares what Americans think? Americans are a stupid, unconscious people and rank 28th in the world in intelligence. That's right. American's average IQ is a pathetic 94. Americans are fickle, brainwashed, idiots. These are the people that elected George W Bush to 2 terms as POTUS. These are the same stupid idiots that re-elected the republicans to Congress, even though they literally trashed this country economically and sent the country into a downward tailspin from which we have still not recovered. The low ratings for Congress are well deserved. The republicans have done nothing but obstruct, block, stall, and squash everything that the President has wanted to do to fix the economy. If you want to level blame for this economy, level it where it belongs dumb dumbs. The republicans controlled both Houses of Congress from 1994-2006 and the US Presidency from 2000-2008. The Great Recession was created by the republicans and began in 2005. Republicans obviously do not want to take responsibility for their disasters. All they can do is deflect and blame at their pathetic little mythic-literal level of development. Republicans are incapable of taking responsibility. Obama tried to fix it many many times and was obstructed each and every time.

[prohb]

mgnik1369, you're right on target. Republicans, I must admit, though, have been brilliant at framing the messaging to the American 'mob' and swaying them to their viewpoint. Unfortunately, many Americans have turned into a fearful or angry mob (or both)like the ancient Roman mob or Germans in the 1930's who looked for simple, immediate answers - then they turn to an emporer, demagogue, or in this case someone that seems to be a take-charge but reassuring person like Romney. What people don't realize are that he has a lot of radical views and he will bring a lot of people into his administration and cabinet that have radical right-wing and corporatist views. I would add that the media has contributed to this.
Another point about Republicans - they have controlled the Supreme Court now for over 25 years and the present one is the most conservative of the bunch.

[stn_sage]

So...a whole 11% approve of the job Congress is doing?!
I dunno...that sounds a little HIGH to me!
I bet it's lower than 11%!
CBS...you're not trying to inflate the numbers, are you?!

[tsigili]

Harry Reid's new title should be "obstructionist". He has earned it.

[Progress4USA]

Noooooo...I don't think Mitch is done with it.

[Progress4USA]

I guess that means 11% of America is all too easily pleased!

[slappy-mcjohnson]

Every Congress has failed to allow us to be free from foreign oil, for decades.

That should be our number one concern, and they stifle it at every turn. Check the history.

.

[myopinionpal]

My question is does america have the will to vote out all incumbents in congress. Then if america does then the new crop that gets voted in will do the right thing knowing that if they don't they will be on the chopping block next.

[jschamberlin]

Fact is, being part of Congress was never meant to be a career position. Congress was set up to have the common person come in, serve their country for a few years, and go back to their daily life.

That's why Congress worked much better in the older (history now) days - your average business owners, teachers, workers, etc got elected in, actually represented the people for awhile, then went back to their normal jobs and lives. They voted in ways that affected not only them, but the people they represented.

I'm drawing a blank on the senator's name, but there was one senator awhile back that left Congress and used the money gained there to start his own hotel - he eventually went bankrupt, and was quoted as stating that had he known how hard it was to run a business in this country, he would have voted a lot differently when he was in Congress. Had we stuck to what was meant to be, instead of electing in "career" politicans, then those in Congress would actually be serving the people instead of their own wallets.

So are all incumbents the problem? Not necessarily. Is having no term limits on Congress a problem? Most definitely.

[myopinionpal]

The very people that complain about their rep in congress will vote for the same rep again. So nothing will ever change with congress.

[knewsreply]

What can be expected when Congress in trying to help the 1% more than the 99%

[Resin-Smoker]

So long as Congress is more concerned about getting re-elected and Big money's agenda, it will always fail!

Ban election donations from :

- non-citizens
- corporations
- special interest groups

[Smokey75]

You do realize that will include Unions who are one of dems top donors?