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defrogITEM: A Gallup poll released December 19 puts Congress’ approval rating at 11% – the lowest rating ever recorded by Gallup since it started asking the question in 1974.
To put a little perspective on that number, Congress has only been averaging a 34% approval rating since ’74. And the 2011 average overall is 17% approval (still a record low). So Congress is never really all that popular anyway (though it did score 84% approval in October 2001, thanks mainly to most people unwilling to bad-mouth the country after 9/11).
But still. 11% is bad by any measure.
As for why it’s so low, there are some obvious factors – the ailing economy, high unemployment, and the apparent inability of Congress to agree on what to do about it, to the point where they struggled just to extend the payroll tax cut two months – which is significant considering neither party was actually against it.
Unless you include the Tea Party.
And that’s where it gets interesting.
It’s been said before that the Tea Party freshmen in the House Of Reps have been largely responsible for derailing just about every major spending/funding decision in Congress this year, with the payroll tax cut debacle evidently the latest example – and the one to make the strongest case supporting that hypothesis, not least because John Boehner seemed to think a House deal was done and dusted, only to find out to his surprise that it was anything but.
You can read the details here and here, but essentially it boils down to the art of compromise, and how John Boehner no longer has that option (or at least thinks he doesn't), thanks partly to the Tea Party attitude that compromising with Obama is like negotiating with terrorists, and partly to the GOP leadership being too afraid of the monster they've helped to create to bring the whip down on them.
Irony!
Anyway, it will be interesting to see where that public discontent leads in terms of the Congressional elections. Various polls suggest that the majority of incumbents aren’t in any real danger of being voted out in favor of the opposition, so I wouldn’t expect a huge power shift in favor of either party as such. Not yet.
The more interesting factor will be how many more Tea Party candidates win or lose. That will of course depend on who they run against (to include GOP candidates) and how many voters consider the budget gridlock to be their fault in the first place. But if November 2012 results in a lot less Tea Party people in office (and it would have to be cut by at least half of what it is now to amount to a "message" to the Tea Party that America is sick of their crap), I have a sawbuck that says it won’t only be the Democrats relieved to see them go.
Nobody likes you,
This is dF
To put a little perspective on that number, Congress has only been averaging a 34% approval rating since ’74. And the 2011 average overall is 17% approval (still a record low). So Congress is never really all that popular anyway (though it did score 84% approval in October 2001, thanks mainly to most people unwilling to bad-mouth the country after 9/11).
But still. 11% is bad by any measure.
As for why it’s so low, there are some obvious factors – the ailing economy, high unemployment, and the apparent inability of Congress to agree on what to do about it, to the point where they struggled just to extend the payroll tax cut two months – which is significant considering neither party was actually against it.
Unless you include the Tea Party.
And that’s where it gets interesting.
It’s been said before that the Tea Party freshmen in the House Of Reps have been largely responsible for derailing just about every major spending/funding decision in Congress this year, with the payroll tax cut debacle evidently the latest example – and the one to make the strongest case supporting that hypothesis, not least because John Boehner seemed to think a House deal was done and dusted, only to find out to his surprise that it was anything but.
You can read the details here and here, but essentially it boils down to the art of compromise, and how John Boehner no longer has that option (or at least thinks he doesn't), thanks partly to the Tea Party attitude that compromising with Obama is like negotiating with terrorists, and partly to the GOP leadership being too afraid of the monster they've helped to create to bring the whip down on them.
Irony!
Anyway, it will be interesting to see where that public discontent leads in terms of the Congressional elections. Various polls suggest that the majority of incumbents aren’t in any real danger of being voted out in favor of the opposition, so I wouldn’t expect a huge power shift in favor of either party as such. Not yet.
The more interesting factor will be how many more Tea Party candidates win or lose. That will of course depend on who they run against (to include GOP candidates) and how many voters consider the budget gridlock to be their fault in the first place. But if November 2012 results in a lot less Tea Party people in office (and it would have to be cut by at least half of what it is now to amount to a "message" to the Tea Party that America is sick of their crap), I have a sawbuck that says it won’t only be the Democrats relieved to see them go.
Nobody likes you,
This is dF
