A new poll spells big trouble for Democrats, but it should not cause Republicans to salivate, either:
A new Gallup Poll finds Congress’ approval rating the lowest it has been since Gallup first tracked public opinion of Congress with this measure in 1974. Just 18% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, while 76% disapprove, according to the August 13-16, 2007, Gallup Poll.
Not good news for the Democrats. MORE:
That 18% job approval rating matches the low recorded in March 1992, when a check-bouncing scandal was one of several scandals besetting Congress, leading many states to pass term limits measures for U.S. representatives (which the Supreme Court later declared unconstitutional). Congress had a similarly low 19% approval rating during the energy crisis in the summer of 1979.
Americans’ evaluations of the job Congress is doing are usually not that positive — the vast majority of historical approval ratings have been below 50%. The high point was 84% approval one month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when Americans rallied behind the federal government. Since then, Congress’ approval ratings have generally exhibited the same downward trajectory seen in those for President George W. Bush. Currently, 32% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing as president, a far cry from the record-high 90% he received in September 2001. Bush’s current job approval rating is just three percentage points above his lowest.
But Republicans should not interpret this as meaning voters are ready to put a Republican Congress back in. Polls haven’t shown that at all.
What this likely reflects is a double whammy hitting the Democratic-controlled Congress: Republicans who don’t like a Democratic Congress coupled with Democrats who don’t like THIS Democratic Congress. But there’s little polling evidence so far to suggest that angry voters want to put Republicans back in.
Many Democrats assumed there would be substantive change after the elections even though the actual Democratic-party margin in Congress — in the Senate in particular — was not that huge. Republicans have skillfully used the tolls at a minority party’s disposal to halt or scuttle some Democratic proposals. Democrats control the Congress; they do not dominate it.
But it’s unlikely that top GOP strategists right now are reading this poll and think it signifies a slam dunk to Republicans regaining control of Congress, and that Republican monies can now be put elsewhere. What could happen is for the Democrats to lose a chamber of Congress — most likelyi the Senate — if some Democrats either sit on their hands in the 2008 Congressional elections, decide to cast protest votes to teach the Democratic party leadership a lesson, or figure that there’s no difference between the two parties (an argument Ralph Nader made that did not exactly turn out to be accurate..).
Democratic leaders can’t lose sight of the fact that they have some Democratic consumers who are quality control checking their product.
And some of them are starting to feel that their product may have been made in China.
GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE DEPARTMENT: Read John Cole. Here’s some of it:
Will anyone consider that the reason ratings are so low is not a universal rejection of Democratic principles as enacted by the new Majority party, it is because the Democrats are also mad at the Democratic majority for not standing up to Bush? Because I guarantee the drop is from Democrats angry at Democratic cowardice, and not a yearning for a Republican Congress.
Any bets? Because I am betting it is all “RAH RAH BUSH HAS HIGHER RATINGS THAN THE DHIMMOCRATS IN CONGRESS.†I can almost guarantee it. I will leave it to you guys to explore the data and the reactions and get back to me.
He points to Glenn Greenwald who writes in part:
But the reason for these low approval ratings is as clear as it is meaningful — the overall ratings for Congress are so low because Democrats disapprove of the Democratic Congress almost as much as Republicans do. There is nothing unusual about how Republicans or independents rate the Democratic Congress; the only aspect of any of this that is unusual is that Democrats rate the Congress so low even though it is controlled by their own party. Virtually every poll demonstrates this.
–Also, read the roundup by skippy.
–And for another perspective, be sure to check out Ed Morrissey who writes, in part:
Democrats have created a monster for themselves, and they seem unable to free themselves from their rut. They have accomplished almost nothing of their agenda, save a minimum-wage hike. They have punted on Iraq, surrendered on FISA and the TSP, and have allowed themselves to get outmanuevered on immigration. They have spent hundreds of hours on investigations to no real benefit while legislation languishes. Their so-called ethics reforms have done nothing but allow lobbyists even more ways to influence Congress, and earmarks are murkier than ever.
It’s the Limbo Congress. How low can they go? Just wait. They have over a year left to plumb the depths.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.