Congress Has Hit A New Low

The Democrat run Congress has a 14% job approval rating according to Gallup, which is the lowest approval rating for Congress since Gallup started tracking it 34 years ago. One of the most interesting aspects of the June to July drop, though, is that approval went up by four points amongst those identifying themselves as Republicans, while approval amongst those identifying themselves as Democrats went down by twelve points. And, in case you were wondering, approval amongst Independents dropped by two points.

The most recent decline comes almost exclusively from Democrats, whose approval of Congress fell from 23% in June to 11% in July, while independents' and Republicans' views of Congress did not change much. As a result, Republicans are now slightly more likely than Democrats to approve of the job the Democratic-controlled Congress is doing (19% vs. 11%).

The 11% of Democrats now approving of Congress is slightly lower than Gallup found in 2006, toward the end of the Republican-led 109th Congress. Democratic approval of Congress initially surged after the Democratic takeover of the U.S. House and Senate, from 16% in December 2006 to 44% in February 2007, but by August 2007 it had fallen to 21%. Democrats' approval of Congress rebounded to 37% later that year, but has since been in a nearly continuous decline.

Republicans' approval of Congress dipped at the point of transition from Republican to Democratic control after the 2006 midterm elections, from 50% in November 2006 to 31% in February 2007 -- and has continued to trend downward except for a brief spike last fall after Gen. Petraeus' testimony before Congress.

Yesterday, one day after the poll cited above was released, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said of President Bush, "You know, God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject." Let me see if I have this right, Madame Speaker: President Bush's low approval ratings are still double-digits above those of your Congress, IBD is calling for you to step down due to your irresponsible positions on energy, yet you talk about the president being a total failure and losing all credibility with the nation. Pot, meet kettle.

You stay classy, Nancy.

USMC 9971 OUT