Is the reason that Congress has an approval rating as low as Bush because they haven't stood up to him?

Question

Congress didn't cut funding for the Iraq occupation.
Congress hasn't started impeachment proceedings.
It seems like Congress has done little with their power to discipline Bush.
Is this the reason their approval ratings are as low as the President's ?

Answer 1

They were sent to Washington to change the course of this government. So far, they have failed. They have introduced little in the way of forward-thinking legislation, failed to reign in the out of control Executive branch, and caved in to the demands of the President.

There are a few (very few) exceptions, but it is "business as usual" in Washington. Americans are sick of it...

Here in NH, we elected 2 new Democrat reps. One has sponsored 2 pieces of worthless legislation (Professional Social Work Month and National Volunteer Week) and the other has sponsored 4, all unrelated to the promises he made during his campaign.

The patience of the American public is wearing thin.

Answer 2

Congress is 49% Republican, certainly that has a lot to do with the lower ratings. Congress as whole has suffered in the polls for caving in to the president. Individual members of Congress have mostly favorable ratings in their own districts. This is a better indicator of whether or not they'll be re-electd. My Democratic Representative is at about 65% in our district. My Democratic Senator about 58%. Both voted for the original funding bill with the timetables and against the funding bill that was signed by the President. My Republican Senator is at about 50% and he has been speaking out against the war, though he ended up voting for the funding bill. Personally I think Congress as well as individual Congressional representatives, would do a lot better if they took a stronger stand on withdrawing from Iraq. As far as impeachment, I think with a year and a half left in Bush's term, time and energy could be better spent reforming health care, passing an energy bill, and continuing the good work Congress is doing raising wages, making education more accessible, and raising awareness of global warming.

Answer 3

this is glaring that this president does not supply a damn approximately what the yankee human beings think of. His rankings shop dropping and he nonetheless does not care and thinks he can bully congress into something he needs. At 30 p.c., President Bush's approval rankings stay caught the place they have been as a results of fact the GOP lost administration of Congress in November. The president's approval score for his coping with of the Iraq conflict maintains to be unchanged from the final NEWSWEEK ballot at 27 p.c., inspite of an uptick interior the widespread public’s helpful emotions concerning to the area in Iraq—up 5 factors to 29 p.c. in view that January. although, that user-friendly restoration does not translate into greater desirable help for the president’s selection to deliver greater troops to Iraq. purely 32 p.c. help the president’s attitude, jointly as fifty 9 p.c. help Democratic legislations to require the withdrawal of U.S. troops by the fall of next 3 hundred and sixty 5 days.

Answer 4

Congresses approval rating is actually lower than the Presidents. They have done nothing. The Democrats have, as usual, forgotten what they said they were going to do. They also found out that the majority of Americans did not want the funds cut for our military, we do not want the President impeached and we want our borders secured before any amnesty is given to illegal immigrants. We also do not want our taxes raised to pay for the nonsense coming out of congress. What has really happened is that Americans have found their voices and we are making ourselves heard on many issues. We do not need or want someone we elected telling us how to live our lives or spend the money we earned.

Answer 5

I would LOVE to say it is because people have finally realized that, except for one or two sterling individuals, all politicians in America are owned by the same masters and dance to the same tune no matter what the people are told.

Last month, in my province, the government pushed through a bill to give themselves HUGE pay raises. The opposition fought it as well as they could. The leader of the opposition is a very old friend of mine and she was genuine in her feeling it was wrong considering the money was needed otherwise. They would take the pensions and perks upon retirement but not the pay raise.

The bill still was pushed through.

Her party stood up and said they would accept the perks but that every penny, EVERY PENNY, they received in the new pay raise would be accounted for and distributed to worthy charities for the people of their individual ridings.

Now to me, THAT is standing up to the opposition and making the best of an unethical situation. Congress will do nothing, as I say, they are all owned. In most cases they are afraid. After all, most of these politicians move highly in the halls of corruption and, as we all know, blackmail, bribery and/or murder are very effectively used as political tools of power.

Once a man casts his eyes on office, internal corruption sets in. This is inevitable.

Except for Ron Paul and maybe a few others, they all do as they are told.

Answer 6

Even a Congress with a huge majority can't make a pig fly.
The Democrats have a very slim majority, and the President has the veto, he hasn't used it often, only to stop stem cell funding, and the previous Republican congress did no oversight as the Constitution calls for. Now we have years to make up for, years in which the most secretive administration in history has kept things from us. By electing Democrats the thought was that things would change, but they didn't change enough.
Theres a lot of anger out there, Republicans had best look for a way out or their constituents will find one for them.

Answer 7

No.

The approval ratings for Congress are so much lower then The Presidents, because they whined, and squalled for so long about all the mistakes The President George W. Bush was guilty of, and now that they are in charge in Washington, they've shown that they had no clue, no ideas, and no plan.

Answer 8

I can only speak for myself, and I personally do not support this Congress because they have failed to stand up to Bush. They have been weak and ineffective. I would assume most reasonable people do not support them for similar reasons, thus making their approval ratings a good thing. It does amuse me though to hear the con trolls around here compare the Presidents approval rating with Congress approval rating.They are so cute when they think they have a point.

Answer 9

Most likely the Palosi leadership has spent more time on political theater and campaigning for 08 than taking the gains they made in 06. Constant stalling on the war supplement bill and loading it with Billions of pork also contributed to people loosing faith in them so fast.

One area that Palosi overlooked is that the democratic victories were in "Middle of the Road" democratic regions, and by narrow margins, no landslides. So when the far left agenda surfaced it was not what people voted for thus causing the shift back to the middle and the right causing some Dem's to start talking about being Reagan democrats again.

Answer 10

They havn't accomplished much besides raising the min wage. The Dems lack the 60 vote majority to stop filibusters so the GOP is playing obstructionist politics and blocking Democratic sponsored legislation. Since nothing is getting done, the US people get angry. So far the Dem controlled congress has failed to deliver alot of what they promised in the first 100 days.