Patterico’s Pontifications

7/16/2008

Congress’s Approval Rating Hits Low Point

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:04 am

The “most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history” (a phrase coined by Nancy Pelosi) has a 14% approval rating, according to Gallup.

That’s the lowest rating since Gallup started asking the question 34 years ago.

Something to keep in mind the next time Democrats yap on about Bush’s low approval rating . . .

37 Comments

  1. they deserve this rating due to their failure to stand up to the president.

    Comment by assistant devil's advocate — 7/16/2008 @ 7:36 am

  2. They deserve this rating, and lower, for their complete and total asshattery, incompetence, and over-inflated senses of entitlement.

    Not to generalize or nuthin’.

    Comment by I'm Geekier — 7/16/2008 @ 7:45 am

  3. I think the democrats need to hold hearings to try to figure out why their ratings are so low, the longer the hearings the better.

    Comment by daleyrocks — 7/16/2008 @ 7:53 am

  4. The real answer is that Congress has earned their low approval ratings by acting like little children - crooked, corrupt, petulant, little kindergarteners to be exact.

    Comment by SPQR — 7/16/2008 @ 7:54 am

  5. They deserve this rating for being the incompetent dolts they are. Check out the price of gas since the Dems took over congress. No, no no, we can’t drill — it won’t have any effect for 5 or 10 years. Drilling is a “hoax.” B.S. “Futures” market means “future.” The market learns we’re going to start pumping millions more barrels of oil in say 3-5 years, the futures market price for oil will go down. Keep the demand at a constant level and increase the supply and the price will go down. that is so *&%$ing basic my 11 year old understands it. That’s just one issue where the Dems are completely wrong and the American people are starting to wake up to that fact.
    The second area where the Dems are wrong is the surge. Before the surge even started Dems were howling that it wouldn’t work, that our own troops were the terrorists (Dick Turben Durbin) and the Dems were clearly hoping for a U.S. failure in Iraq. The American people won’t put up with that sh*t. Moreover, when it became clear that the surge was working, the Dem leaders in Congress pretended that it wasn’t working. Duh! Dems act stupid, speak stupid, look stupid, they’re probably stupid. And how about Charlie Schumer causing the run on the Indy Bank. Nice job Charlie you *sshole. Pull your head out of your *ss. There are so many more reasons why the Congress has an approval rating of 14% I could write all day, but I have to get back to work. The bottom line is the Dem Congress is doing a terrible, terrible job and despite the MSM trying to cover for them, the truth is getting out and the American people are seeing them for what they really are, losers.

    Comment by J. Raymond Wright — 7/16/2008 @ 7:57 am

  6. The conventional wisdom is that this is a “D” year and Republicans have been retiring in droves. I wonder. If a few Republicans can focus on a few issues, such as gas prices and drilling, on corruption in Fannie Mae, which has been an ATM for Democrat politicians for the past 15 years, and on and on. Maybe conventional wisdom isn’t correct.

    Comment by Mike K — 7/16/2008 @ 8:22 am

  7. They deserve this rating for their continuing pandering to Socialists.

    Comment by cfbleachers — 7/16/2008 @ 8:33 am

  8. I don’t see what you Republicans have to complain about. They’re fully funding the Iraq war and legalizing the crimes George Bush has committed. Why would you disapprove?

    Comment by Levi — 7/16/2008 @ 8:47 am

  9. Yeah! Right on. What clowns elected these morons?
    Oh, wait.
    I don’t know how, but we need to work on getting a better class of candidate to run for office.

    Comment by jrnev — 7/16/2008 @ 8:50 am

  10. “Why would you disapprove?”

    Levi - The republicans actually want to get things done in contrast to the democrats. The Iraqi congress has accomplished more than the democrat congress.

    Comment by daleyrocks — 7/16/2008 @ 8:51 am

  11. The Democrats deserve the low poll ratings because the public know they are corrupt liars, if not knowing that there should be Special Prosecutors criminally investigating Conyers, Pelosi, Reid, McDermott, Murtha, and Feinstein to name a few.

    Comment by PCD — 7/16/2008 @ 8:57 am

  12. If we would only listen to Nancy! She knows about these things…

    “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi links the low ratings to Congress’s inability to end the war in Iraq or deliver on promises to lower gas prices.

    “I think one of the reasons that Congress is at an all-time low in confidence with the American people is that we did not end the war – and these issues that relate to energy,” she said at a Monitor breakfast on June 24.”

    http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0708/p03s04-uspo.html

    Heh.

    Comment by Dana — 7/16/2008 @ 9:03 am

  13. Perhaps if our low approval congress had the numbers to overide vetos, our President, congress and country’s approval rating would be higher. Not just in The U.S.A. but in the world.
    I know, I know what you all are saying, “Who cares what the world thinks of us”
    But they are holding the debt notes of the ones polled.
    Have a nice day all.

    Comment by Oiram — 7/16/2008 @ 9:10 am

  14. Chuck Schumer is doing what he can to help the Republicans on the energy issue.

    Comment by Mike K — 7/16/2008 @ 9:46 am

  15. “legalizing the crimes George Bush has committed. ”

    Wouldn’t that make them…not crimes?

    “Perhaps if our low approval congress had the numbers to overide vetos, our President, congress and country’s approval rating would be higher. Not just in The U.S.A. but in the world.”

    heh

    Comment by Lord Nazh — 7/16/2008 @ 10:02 am

  16. On July 8th, Rassmussen reported that the Congressional approval rating was at single digits. So ever since then I have been checking RCP to see what it is. It has remained, until today, at 18%. Today, RCP moved it down to 17.5%.

    The Rassumussen poll is not included in RCPs averages. I have to ask why.

    Well, not really, since I have had problems with Real Clear Politics for awhile.

    RCP was quick to change the approval rate of President Bush and any time that Senator Clinton would drop in the polls. But at one time, Clinton was leading by most of the polls and for almost a two weeks, and until Obama gained in the polls, Real Clear Politics never changed the percentages to show Hillary was gaining some strength.

    If you add the Rassmussen poll to the other polls, including Gallop, the Consgress’s approval rating would be even lower.

    There is no reason to ask why RCP is doing this or why the Congress is tanking in the approval arena.

    Where were gas prices on January 20, 2006? Where was the stock market on January 20, 2006? Did we have banks failing, gas double the cost, crude going through the roof, milk 25-40% higher, groceries now taking a bigger portion of a family’s budget?
    What about Nancy Pelosi’s speech in April, 2006(prior to the November elections) that the Democrats had a plan to lower gas prices as Americans could not afford $2.39/gallon gas?
    (I can provide her speech if anyone is interested)

    So what has the New Socialist Democratic Party of America come up with?

    $1.5 BILLION in the next two years for public transit (yeah, that will help farmers put gas in their tractors), a resolution to sue OPEC which promptly said that if the U.S. sues them, some will stop selling crude to the U.S. (making for a shortage and even higher gas prices), making the subidities for ethanol even greater than it already is ($0.51/gal compared to gas which is $0.02/gal), blocking drilling on our own soil (something no other nation does) and holding hearings on baseball steriod use instead of hearings on the corruption within their own ranks.

    It would seen that Nancy Pelosi suffered some severe brain damage when she broke the marble ceiling.

    Even Investor’s Business Daily is now clammoring for her resignation.

    Comment by retire05 — 7/16/2008 @ 10:28 am

  17. #13 - Oiram

    Perhaps if our low approval congress had the numbers to overide vetos, our President, congress and country’s approval rating would be higher. Not just in The U.S.A. but in the world.

    – Really. Tell me, in what other country do they take a poll to determine an approval rating for the US Congress?

    Comment by Icy Truth — 7/16/2008 @ 10:29 am

  18. #3 - daleyrocks

    I think the democrats need to hold hearings to try to figure out why their ratings are so low, the longer the hearings the better.

    – I think ‘Beverly Hills’ Waxman should investigate the pollsters for partisan bias; maybe try to determine if any of them are on steroids.

    Comment by Icy Truth — 7/16/2008 @ 10:32 am

  19. None Icy, what’s your point?

    Comment by Oiram — 7/16/2008 @ 10:33 am

  20. Greetings:

    Do you think anyone in the media will ask Nancy Pelosi what it’s like to be the first female Speaker of the House with the lowest approval rating? On camera?

    Comment by 11B40 — 7/16/2008 @ 10:36 am

  21. Gotta Love Republicans eh retire05?
    When times are good, give all the credit to the Republican president in office. When times are bad, blame the Democrats in congress.

    Comment by Oiram — 7/16/2008 @ 10:39 am

  22. #16 - retire05

    It would seen that Nancy Pelosi suffered some severe brain damage when she broke the marble ceiling.

    – One of the needles from those Botox injections holding her face together got pushed in a little too far. Think about it, now: a neurotoxin that reduces muscle activity . . . the woman committed biological warfare against herself, and lost!

    Comment by Icy Truth — 7/16/2008 @ 10:43 am

  23. #13 - Oiram wrote: Perhaps if our low approval congress had the numbers to overide [sic] vetos [sic], our President, congress and country’s approval rating would be higher. Not just in The U.S.A. but in the world.

    #17 - Icy Truth wrote: in what other country do they take a poll to determine an approval rating for the US Congress?

    #19 - Oiram wrote: None Icy, what’s your point?

    – If you knew it was meaningless, why did you write it? Oh, and Congress overrode a presidential veto yesterday.

    Comment by Icy Truth — 7/16/2008 @ 10:54 am

  24. Icy,

    You said: Really. “Tell me, in what other country do they take a poll to determine an approval rating for the US Congress?”

    I never said said that, but I answered your question with “None”. Hence me asking “What’s your point” Re-read thread if you like.

    Comment by Oiram — 7/16/2008 @ 11:01 am

  25. Glad to hear Congress was able to come together to override a veto concerning Medicare. Approval might go up then.

    Comment by Oiram — 7/16/2008 @ 11:06 am

  26. Speaking of Waxman, he’s been in Congress far too long if he’s seriously making statements like this:

    “This unfounded assertion of executive privilege does not protect a principle; it protects a person,” Waxman said. “If the vice president did nothing wrong, what is there to hide?”

    And Waxman’s a lawyer!

    I’d post a link to the article, which concerns Waxman’s intention to hold a vote on issuing a contempt citation to A.G. Mukasey, but it’s from AP. Since the above is a quotation from Waxman, I assume that it’s fair use to quote it.

    Comment by JoeH — 7/16/2008 @ 11:46 am

  27. Waxman’s always been a pompous blowhard.

    Comment by SPQR — 7/16/2008 @ 12:21 pm

  28. “One of the needles from those Botox injections holding her face together got pushed in a little too far.”

    It would be a million to one shot for the needle to actually hit her brain.

    Comment by Dave Surls — 7/16/2008 @ 1:53 pm

  29. In the race to Zero, the Congress takes the lead!

    Comment by htom — 7/16/2008 @ 2:21 pm

  30. Oiram -

    You said: if our low approval congress had the numbers to [override vetoes], our President, congress and country’s approval rating would be higher. Not just in The U.S.A. but in the world. “Congress and country’s approval rating”. “Not just in the U.S.A. but in the world.” If there is — as you said — no polling in other countries regarding the job performance of the US Congress, then how do you determine the level of approval? Do you just guess? Read a few blogs and op-ed pages and extrapolate?

    THAT is my point. You said that if Congress would override more vetoes its approval rating in the “world” would be higher. I am challenging how you propose to know that, other than just voicing it as an opinion unsupported by any facts.

    Comment by Icy Truth — 7/16/2008 @ 2:40 pm

  31. The thread is convoluted now.
    I do know this I travel a lot and talk to people. If you trust Gallup, you can check this out:

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/105967/US-Leadership-Approval-Lowest-Europe-Mideast.aspx

    Cheers

    Comment by Oiram — 7/16/2008 @ 3:33 pm

  32. Levi - The republicans actually want to get things done in contrast to the democrats.

    They had 4 years to get things done, with the President eager to sign. They worked like two and a half days a week. What’s their excuse?

    Comment by Levi — 7/16/2008 @ 3:45 pm

  33. ‘They worked “like” two and a half days a week?’

    Do you ever offer any substance for your many helium - enhanced rantings, or do you just make it up as you go along?

    Comment by Dmac — 7/16/2008 @ 6:20 pm

  34. Has anyone here ever been asked about what we think of the performance of the British Parliament? The Icelandic Althing? The PRC People’s Congress? The Holy See?

    Why on Earth is anyone asking people not subject to our laws being asked what they think about those laws?

    And, just FYI, Gallup might not be the least biased source you could have come up with.

    Comment by Drumwaster — 7/16/2008 @ 6:29 pm

  35. I wonder why America’s standing in the world might drop over the last eight years? Hmmmm. Let me think.

    How about the loyal opposition nixed the whole loyalty thing? Naw that can’t be it. Oh, yeah.

    BUSH! And the Joooos. But mostly Bush.

    Comment by Libertard — 7/16/2008 @ 8:43 pm

  36. Pelosi and the Democratic leadership threw away a great opportunity to build an enduring majority.

    Comment by Michael Ejercito — 7/16/2008 @ 11:31 pm

  37. They’ve made Bush a lame duck. That was the point. I don’t have a problem with little getting done if that means none of Bush’s goals get met. Yeah, it’s a sacrifice and is risky, but he’s done enough damage and it was time to stop the bleeding. I think Obama will still get elected and more importantly be able to seat 2 supreme court justices…which is the most important thing.

    Comment by Stu — 7/29/2008 @ 10:36 pm

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