Gallup says that the job approval rating for Congress has dropped to its lowest point in the 34 years the pollster has been asking the question. In a survey conducted July 10-13, only 14 percent of Americans said Congress was doing a good job compared to 75 percent who disapproved of its performance. The disapproval number was just short of the record-high of 78 percent recorded in 1992.
Although Democrats are in control on the Hill, the decline was powered largely by self-described Democrats where the number who approved of Congress' performance dropped from 23 percent in June to 11 percent. The Republican approval number actually went up, from 15 percent to 19 percent, while independents approving of Congress slipped slightly from 16 percent to 14 percent.
Gallup attributes the trend to four factors:
- Congress "is taking the brunt" of worsening economic conditions.
- The fact that it is more difficult for Congress to hold on to the kind of political loyalty on which even President Bush, with his low approval ratings, has among Republicans.
- Democrats have soured on the Hill for inaction on Iraq and immigration reform.
- That 2008 looks like 1979 when inflation, gasoline prices and a looming recession drove its approval rating down to 19 percent.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll, conducted July 10-13 and released yesterday, reflected the same trend in the numbers. Only 23 percent of those polled approved of the job Congress was doing, down from 33 percent in February. That was the lowest number since 1994. The disapproval rate went from 59 percent in February to 71 percent, also the highest since 1994. Democrats fared better with Republicans with their approval-to-disapproval rating at 35 percent to 57 percent while the GOP number was 25 percent to 69 percnt.
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