Americans' opinion of Congress has sunk to a historic low, according to a new CNN poll. Only 14% of the poll's respondents said they approve of the way Congress is handling its job.It is also only the third time since CNN started the poll in 1974 that Congress' approval rating has sunk below 20%. The other instances were in March 1992, in the midst of the House banking scandal, and in June 1979, the month before President Jimmy Carter delivered his infamous "malaise" address to the American people.
A new NYT/CBS poll comes up with equally dismal numbers:
A record 82 percent of Americans now disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job ? the most since The Times first began asking the question in 1977, and even more than after another political stalemate led to a shutdown of the federal government in 1995. More than four out of five people surveyed said that the recent debt ceiling debate was more about gaining political advantage than about doing what is best for the country. Nearly three-quarters said that the debate had harmed the image of the United States in the world.Republicans in Congress shoulder more of the blame for the difficulties in reaching a debt ceiling agreement than President Obama and the Democrats, the poll found.
Other numbers in the poll suggest that the public still wants jobs instead of deficit reduction, and support increasing taxes on those making over $250,000, both by a two-thirds margin. In fact, the whole poll (go read it) shows positive favorables for Democratic positions in this last debate, not that that made a damn bit of difference to anyone involved.
Congratulations, Congress, it's now official: you have the lowest approval ratings of any Congress since they started keeping track of such things. How very, very appropriate.
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