Americans against Congress: Over 80% of citizens disapprove of lawmakers
Record-breaking numbers of Americans have lost support for Congress, according to a survey. Eighty-three per cent of respondents said they disapprove of the job its doing, while 57 per cent said they would replace every member of Congress if they could.
The poll (link to poll), conducted jointly by NBC News and the
Wall Street Journal, has illustrated new heights of vehement
public distaste for the actions of the US government.
“There is a palpable unhappiness with Washington,”
Republican pollster Peter D. Hart said upon learning the poll’s
results. His Democratic counterpart concurred that “now is the
summer of our discontent.”
At the same time, President Barack Obama has seen his approval
rating slump to 45 per cent – down from 48 per cent last month.
This marks his lowest rating since August 2011, when nearly every
US politician suffered a blow on account of the debt-ceiling
crisis, when Obama became embroiled in a heated debate with House
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other Republicans in Congress.
The reasons cited for the lack of support for Congress included
the government ignoring the middle-class, gridlock, the inability
for lawmakers to produce any tangible results, and President
Obama’s policies and leadership in general.
However, these reasons invariably fall into different camps, with
Republicans and Democrats citing different primary reasons.
Democrats and independents are irritated with congressional
gridlock and governmental inactivity, while Republicans are
anti-Obama.
The poll used a cross section of 1,000 adults – including 300
cell phone only respondents – and was conducted between July
17-21.
Similar polls surrounding Obama’s popularity, conducted in recent
weeks, seem to corroborate the results. A Gallup report released
Monday revealed that Obama averaged a 47.9 per cent approval
rating over the course of the past three months. A
McClatchy-Marist national survey placed Obama's overall approval
rating closer to 41 per cent.
