October 25, 2011 6:30 PM

Congressional approval at all-time low of 9%, according to new CBS News/New York Times poll

By
Lucy Madison
Topics
Polling ,
Congress

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

Approval ratings for Congress dropped into single digits this month for the first time since CBS News and the New York Times began asking the question more than three decades ago.

In a poll released Tuesday, just nine percent of Americans said they approve of the job lawmakers on Capitol Hill are doing. The all-time low is down 2 points from an 11 percent approval rating just a month ago, and is the first single digit level since the question was first asked in 1977.

According to the poll, which was conducted between October 19-24, Americans also have less trust than ever in the government's ability to make the right decisions: Just one in ten Americans currently say they trust the government to do what is right all or most of the time - down from 23 percent who said the same just a year ago. That figure - at just 1 percent - is a record low since the CBS News/New York Times poll first asked the question in 1976.

Eighty-nine percent of Americans - a record high - say they trust the government only some of the time or never.

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Moreover, congressional disapproval is not confined to one party: more than four out of five Republicans, Democrats, and Independents (83 percent, 83 percent, and 85 percent, respectively) disapprove of the job Congress is doing.

President Obama's approval rating remains consistently below the 50 percent mark, with 46 percent of Americans approving of his job performance and 46 percent disapproving. That's a slight uptick from his rating in September of 2011, when he earned 44 percent support.

(Credit: CBS)
This poll was conducted by telephone from October 19-24, 2011 among 1,650 adults nationwide. 1,475 interviews were conducted with registered voters and 455 with voters who said they plan to vote in a Republican primary. 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 two percentage points. The margin of error for the sample of registered voters could be plus or minus three points and four points for the sample of Republican primary voters. The error for subgroups may be higher. An oversample was conducted for this survey which will be analyzed in a future poll release. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.


Add a Comment See all 59 Comments
by riuey December 12, 2011 2:03 PM EST
I have no problem with Obama, Congress just refuses to do any thing to help the country. All they worry about is the money to get reelected. I hope all of us that go to the polls remember what this Congress has done or has not done is the proper statement. It is Congress that has to pass the laws to get the country moving, instead they just sit back hoping to make more money from those that really are running our Government, that being Wall Street.
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by noloyalisti November 28, 2011 7:06 PM EST
Not nearly enough people recognize that the giant corporations and the greedy rich have taken over the government for their own profits. People want to blame the government but I would go after the Top 1% whose massive payoffs have corrupted our entire political and judicial system.

The Top 1% expect the government to serve them as puppets. This is undoubtedly enforced the way the Mafia does: by threat of bodily harm to them or their families.
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by aheadace November 28, 2011 1:49 PM EST
That's ok just work 108 days that will give the good old boys 257 days to hunt them down.
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by minoriabc1 November 21, 2011 10:17 PM EST
They are so dysfunctional it sad but funny. Check out a funny video representation of a Congress making breakfast at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hm99hlAOc4
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by Isiah1776 October 31, 2011 3:37 AM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government has doled out more than $600 million in benefit payments to DEAD people over the past five years, a watchdog report says. Such payments are meant for retired or disabled federal workers, but sometimes the checks keep going out even after the former employees pass away.
In one case, the son of a beneficiary continued receiving payments for 37 years after his father's death in 1971. The payments — totaling more than $515,000 — were only discovered when the son died in 2008.
The government has been aware of the problem SINCE a 2005 inspector general's report revealed defects in the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund. YET the improper payments have continued, despite more than a half dozen attempts to develop a system that can figure out which beneficiaries are still alive and which are dead, the report said.
Last year, government investigators found that more than 89,000 stimulus payments of $250 each from the massive economic recovery package went to people who were either dead or in prison.

http://www.chron.com/default/article/Gov-t-paid-600-million-in-benefits-to-dead-people-2185354.php

If Obama and the Democrats would do their JOB and put a STOP to this kind of crap they might not even need to raise taxes.
But I guess it's easier to pass a law and go on vacation than it is to deal with a bloated, incompetent government bureaucracy.
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by stevehamilton858 November 22, 2011 12:26 AM EST
This problem has been around a lot longer than the past 5 years. Why do you think it's the job of the current president and the Democrats to fix? And although it's the kind of thing that ticks everybody off, it's a third order problem in terms of our current negative cash flow. The kind of money you're talking about is peanuts compared to the total deficit problem. If it got fixed, the CBO probably wouldn't even notice.

Regarding taxes, the country needs more revenue to operate. We can raise tax revenue intelligently, so that it won't affect people who have jobs today, and even use changes in the tax code to repatriate jobs the US that are currently being performed off shore. For instance, suppose any company who paid an executive more than 100 times the average employee salary, could not deduct that executive's salary when computing taxable income. That wouldn't kill any jobs and it would generate more revenue for the government. Or suppose that companies who have off-shore operations could not deduct 100% of their foreign costs when computing taxable income, but could deduct 100% of domestic costs. That would generate more money for the government and serve as an incentive for these companies to repatriate jobs, particularly if it were combined with a tax credit for any repatriated job. Herman Cain is totally out of his league when he talks tax reform.
by Kenny777_y October 29, 2011 11:03 AM EDT
we have not seen anything yet. this wall street protest is just the tip of an iceberg. unemployment will increase, people in general will be poorer,just face it there is no fix to this. dont mean to be funny or out of line but all the kings horses and all the kings men can never be trusted again. at one time i was hopeful ,,,,really was, just wanted to say that before everyone calls.me a quitter.
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by stevehamilton858 November 22, 2011 12:36 AM EST
I agree with you about the OWS movement. The Republicans are trying to minimize its significance, but it's not going to go away. I live in Davis, California, and this past week, several university cops pepper sprayed peaceful demonstrators. Thank God, they don't carry guns, or we would have had another Kent State.

My sincere hope is that the current manifestation of the Republican party is going to get beaten so badly next year that a new conservative party, founded on Lincoln's ideals, and with members like Ike Eisenhower, Bill Buckley, and Ronald Reagan will replace the pandering group of corporate toadies that make up today's party. The Tea Party will die, and the Norquist/ATR pledge will be determined in court to create a conflict of interest with the oath of office, so that any elected official who signs the pledge would be subject to impeachment.
by miknfltoo October 27, 2011 9:20 PM EDT
Maybe these numbers are the reason Cantor and Beohner announced only 108 working days for the House in 2012. If they "work" even less time then people will have less negative feelings toward them.
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by stevehamilton858 November 22, 2011 12:42 AM EST
Are you kidding? Most people in industry, or law, or accounting work 250 days per year, less 8 or 9 legal holidays. If these clowns take that much time off when the country is facing the incredibly difficult issues that exist today, they will create a lot more negative feelings. Making things work takes a lot of time, particularly if the problems that need solving are complex. My 50 years of military and business experience has taught me that there are no simple solutions to complex problems.
by zenia5 October 27, 2011 5:02 PM EDT
This country is being run by big corporations (esp. oil, pharma, and insurance) who are pulling the strings of lawmakers....money talks. Getting rid of the lawmakers and the system that allows this to happen...along with term limits...should help fix the problem.
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by gkoeven1 October 26, 2011 7:05 PM EDT
Yeah that 9 % is probably the millionares scared that they may have to pay the same taxes as everyone else. TAX THE RICH THE SAME RATE AS EVERYONE ELSE.
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by wadesboro October 26, 2011 6:29 PM EDT
Beware of that 9%!
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