Rasmussen Reports continues to take the pulse of the nation’s voters and the approaching holiday season sees the approval ratings of Congress once again diving into single digit territory.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters found that only nine percent (9%) give Congress good or excellent ratings, while 54% give the legislature poor marks. Just one-out-of-50 voters (2%) think Congress is doing an excellent job.
The last time the ratings were this low was on September 9. In late November, 12% gave Congress good or excellent ratings. This is now the fifth time congressional ratings have fallen below 10% since June 1.
When we can’t even find one in ten citizens who are willing to say that our elected officials are at least doing a decent job, something is seriously wrong. Do you suppose it could have anything to do with the fact that a majority of voters don’t want them to keep using our tax dollars to bail out private industry? Or might it be the general impression among voters that Congress is more corrupt than the CEOs they are bailing out? That might explain why 59% feel that Barack Obama should make ethics reform a top priority during his first year in office. (Because, as we all know, when you want to clean up corruption in government, your first thought should be to call in somebody from Chicago.)
I know the economy is in distress, unemployment is rising, banks and business are failing and there is a rather dark cloud hanging over the opening days of the era of hope and change. But these things tend to pass and I can’t help but believe they will do so again. What might not change, however, is the fundamental collapse of of the voters’ confidence in their legislative representatives. As the results of a companion poll demonstrate, nearly half the country is increasingly worried about the emergence of American Dynasties, turning the Senate into a modern-day House of Lords without concerns for qualifications or skill. What’s to be done to reverse this trend? I wish I was smart enough to figure that one out for you.