Congressional Approval Ratings Hit New Lows

By Daniel W. Reilly

(The Politico)  Congressional approval ratings tumbled to new lows in a spate of recent polls, as high gas prices and a sagging economy continue to hurt the public’s perception of the legislative branch.

In the latest Rasmussen poll, the percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings fell to single digits for the first time in the polling firm’s history.

According to the survey, only 9% of respondents said Congress is doing a good or excellent job, while 52% of the voters surveyed said Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that category.

While Republicans pounced on the numbers, eager to portray the Democratic leadership as running the institution into the ground, the negative perceptions of Congress as a whole do not seem to be greatly affecting views of the majority party.

Democrats still enjoy a twelve percentage point lead on Rasumssen’s generic congressional ballot, despite the negative views of Congress as a whole.

In addition, Democrats can point to a NBC/Wall St. Journal poll taken in mid-June, which found that by a 52% to 33% margin, people said they would rather see Democrats retain control of Congress in November.

That 19-point margin favoring Democrats is the largest recorded for either party since the question was first asked in 1994.
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