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Blogs

Why Do We Dislike Congress More Than Bush?

By Michael McGehee at Oct 17, 2008


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I have been wondering this for awhile and decided to take a look at the opinion polls accumulated on the website www.pollingreport.com and this is what I found.
 
President Bush’s approval rating is about 25% whereas Congress has an approval rating of only 15% (I got these figures by averaging so far for the month of October).
 
Now the Democrats have an approval rating of 34% and Republicans 27%, so don’t ask me why the combined approval for both is twice as high as “Congress” separately because I don’t know. Maybe we favor the political parties more than the institution in which they work through. Who knows?
 
But the interesting thing is these findings:
 
NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted by the polling organizations of Peter Hart (D) and Bill McInturff (R). Jan. 20-22, 2008. N=approx. 500 adults nationwide. MoE ± 4.4.
 
 
 
 
 
 
.
"Who do you want to see take the lead role in setting policy for the country: George W. Bush or the Congress?"
 
 
 
 
 
 
.
 
 
Bush
Congress
Shared/
Equal (vol.)
Neither (vol.)
Unsure
 
 
%
%
%
%
%
 
1/20-22/08
21
62
10
4
3
 
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. Dec. 6-9, 2007. Adults nationwide.
 
 
 
 
 
.
 
"Do you think it is good for the country or bad for the country that the Democratic Party is in control of Congress?" N=494 adults, MoE ± 4.5 (Form A)
 
 
 
 
 
.
 
 
 
Good
Bad
Neither (vol.)
Unsure
 
 
 
%
%
%
%
 
 
12/6-9/07
53
37
8
2
 
 
"Do you approve or disapprove of what the Democratic leaders in the U.S. House and Senate have done so far this year?" N=508 adults, MoE ± 4.5 (Form B)
 
 
 
 
 
.
 
 
 
Approve
Disapprove
Unsure
 
 
 
 
%
%
%
 
 
 
12/6-9/07
39
56
6
 
 
 
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. Sept. 7-9, 2007. N=1,017 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
 
 
 
 
 
.
 
"Do you think the policies being proposed by the Democratic leaders in the U.S. House and Senate would move the country in the right direction or the wrong direction?"
 
 
 
 
 
.
 
 
 
Right
Direction
Wrong
Direction
Unsure
 
 
 
 
%
%
%
 
 
 
9/7-9/07
50
39
11
 
 
 
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. Aug. 6-8, 2007. N=approx. 500 adults nationwide. MoE ± 4.5.
 
 
 
 
 
.
 
"Since the start of this year, when the Democrats took control of Congress, in general, would you say the Democratic Congress has been a success or a failure?"
 
 
 
 
 
.
 
 
 
Success
Failure
Unsure
 
 
 
 
%
%
%
 
 
 
8/6-8/07
37
55
8
 
 
 
 
Now I could be wrong but I get the strong impression that those polled since the 2006 election strongly favored the Democrats taking control of Congress, formulating policy and the “policies” proposed (and I suspect those that were proposed during the midterm election), while the majority of voters blamed Bush and Republicans for the problems.
 
But the Democrats have had enough time to follow through with their campaign promises but have been a “failure.”
 
Again, I could be wrong since the polls could be open to varying interpretations, but I take these polls as saying the reason Congress is disliked more than the President is because the Democratic-led Congress has “failed” to reign in Bush and carry out their promises. If I am right this interpretation paints a more progressive picture of America than many might believe to be true. The only thing we despise more than a tyrant is a democratically-elected political party who turns their back on its supporters.
 
P.S.: Will anyone be watching the debate this Sunday between the “third party” candidates? It will be aired on C-Span.
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By Hunt, Steve at Oct 20, 2008 10:37 AM

   It is interesting to note their hasn\'t been a ton of discussion on this fact by the Republicans, and especially the McCain/Palin campaign.  I suspect it might require some revision of their histories, namely the "glorious Reagan years" when their was a Democratic majority in the House and Senate, and the "dreadful Clinton years" when their was a Republican majority in the House and Senate.

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