Want some ideas on why nothing gets any better? Maybe the problem is us.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/109267/Voters-Strongly-Backing-Incumbents-Congress.aspx
In a year when approval of Congress has reached a new low, just 36% of U.S. registered voters say most members of Congress deserve re-election. This is among the lowest ratings Gallup has measured in a recent presidential or congressional election year.
These results are based on a July 25-27 USA Today/Gallup poll of 900 registered voters nationwide. The poll was conducted before Congress began a month-long recess late last week.
Gallup has found ratings in the neighborhood of the current 36% in three other election years -- 1992, 1994, and 2006. All of these years brought about significant change in the membership of Congress.
In the 1994 and 2006 midterm election years, when 38% of registered voters said most members of Congress were deserving of another term, enough seats switched party hands that control of Congress switched from one party to the other -- from the Democrats to the Republicans in 1994 and from the Republicans to the Democrats in 2006.
In 1992, as few as 29% of registered voters said most members deserved re-election. Congress did experience a great deal of turnover that year, though Democrats retained party control and the actual change in the party composition of Congress was much less than in 1994 or 2006. That could be because a large number of incumbent members retired rather than run for re-election in 1992. But it also could be the fact that the congressional elections were overshadowed by the presidential election that year.
Does Your Member Deserve to Be Re-Elected?
Voters are usually much more charitable when asked whether their own member of Congress deserves to be re-elected (as opposed to most members), and that is also the case in the latest poll. Fifty-seven percent of registered voters say the U.S. representative from their own congressional district deserves to be re-elected. That, too, is on the low end of what Gallup has measured historically for one's own member, slightly higher than the 1994 (54%) and 2006 (54%) readings, and somewhat better still than the all-time low of 48% in 1992.
On a variety of measures, 2008 looks like a better year for Democrats than for Republicans. But at the same time, Democrats hold party control of the House (as well as the Senate). So it is not immediately clear which party's incumbents might be more vulnerable if voters want to change Congress. The poll sought to get some traction on the issue by asking voters to report whether their member of Congress is a Republican or a Democrat. That gives a sense of whom voters have in mind when they say their member of Congress does or does not deserve re-election.
A fairly large proportion of voters (35%) are unsure whether their member of Congress is a Democrat or a Republican. But among those who are aware, the data suggest that Democratic members might be a little safer this year than Republicans.
Among voters who report that their member of Congress is a Democrat, 64% say he or she deserves re-election. That compares to the 57% who say their (Republican) representative deserves another term. Among the roughly one in three voters who are unsure whether a Republican or a Democrat represents their district, barely half (51%) say their member deserves to be re-elected.
So congress has a 36% approval rating. Okay, I can buy that. Nut 57% of the people say It's not their congressman. Of course not. most troubling of all though, 35% don't know what party their congressman belongs to. They don't know, but he's doing a fine job. I'll be sure to vote for him again. too bad those other people keep sending idiots back to Washington.
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