Would the approval rating for Congress go up if they cut funding for the Iraq war?

Question

I'm not sure exactly what the approval rating is for Congress now. Last time I checked it was like 14%. Would it go up or down even more if they cut the funding for the war ?

Yeah you people that say it isn't 14% are probably right. I've just heard that figure given by a lot of conservatives. That's what I get for listening to cons. I get stupid and ignorant.

O.K. I actually did some research. Gallup says the approval rating for Congress in June was 24%.

Answer 1

Yes, I think their approval rating would go up, but I believe people are more upset with Congress because they are incapable of doing what they were put into office to do. The most they can do is cut funding for the war, which they have not done yet. And in spite of suthrnlyts false notion of Congress overriding the veto, there are actually not enough votes in Congress to do so. So, we are effectively at a stalemate in the War debate. What Congress can do is defund the war. They have enough votes for that if going with a straight up or down vote and everyone against the War sticks together on the floor of Congress. The problem is getting enough legislators to have the courage to do so. Many of them fear being seen as not supporting the troops, so they are in a very sticky predicament. It is sad to say, but I think we are stuck until the next election, when the new Democratic majority and Democratic President will get us out of there as expediently as possible. There is no way we can completely withdraw, but we can take the force down to guarding borders, training Iraqi police and military, and such as that in Iraq.

Answer 2

Congress’ approval rating would go up. The Democrats don’t have enough votes to override Bush’s vetoes but they have the power to refuse to pass any more funding for the war. The American people want the war ended.

The Democrats have tried being reasonable and cooperative but it doesn’t work. They are on record as having tried. If they can’t get past the obstructionist Republicans and Bush’s vetoes then they have to take a more hard line approach. The public will approve. The Democrats also have to be prepared to effectively counter the Bush propaganda that will follow the cutting of funding.

Answer 3

Nothing, just like the approval rating for Congress tells us nothing. How is the poll worded? Are they using open-ended questions or are they they using multiple answers that the pollsters devised? While as you say, the republican senators and congressmen rubber stamped his agenda, where was the minority party at? Why did so many senators, both republican and democrat, vote for this now unpopular war? Where was the opposition to the Patriot act at during the initial passing and the extending of this bill? It is called politics and they were more worried about getting re-elected than causing a fuss.

Answer 4

This is a common misconception. The President's approval rating is at an all time low (32 percent) congress is @ about 25 percent. While congress definitely isn't pleasing Americans, they're definitely not at 13 percent.

To answer your question, if Congress cut the funding for Iraq, their approval rating would skyrocket. The majority of Americans want the war to end (off hand I think 68 percent is the number), with civic action groups like Moveon.org starting their political extinction campaign, congress is polled as a whole. If they were to poll republican congress and democratic congress, you would find sharp contrasts in the data with republicans on the low end for blocking the withdrawal vote, and democrats on the high end for being the proprietors of the vote.

To add insult to injury, the majority of American soldiers don't approve of the war, so all around Americans are against the war.

Answer 5

Congressional approval ratings would go up if Senate Republicans allowed the Democrats to do what they were voted in to do.

A very wise person once told me: Congress is not an institution whose job is to make laws. Its real job is to keep bad laws from passing.

So while we should be thankful that it's hard to pass laws in Congress, lest we be burdened with thousands of oppressive and really stupid laws, it is intentionally difficult to pass even the good laws, like this.

It's insulting to tell anyone to be patient on this issue, but I'm sure Congress is doing everything it can despite stubborn Republican resistances (which is slowly turning) and the obstinance of executive branch ideologues.

(Oh, and as a side note, Congressional approval ratings aren't %14--when you average polls from the top twenty polling companies, it's wobbling around %25, which is still dismal...)

Answer 6

By continuing to fund the war, by supporting the mechanisms that make the war possible, the Democratic Party is supporting war, torture, deceit and corruption. They are guilty of the same murder and crimes against humanity that the Bush crime family is guilty of. Supporting the troops is making those crimes possible.

Many liberals who make the claim of being anti-war distinguish between supporting the troops and not supporting the war. This door doesn't swing both ways. Knowing the Iraq war to be illegal and immoral, how can liberals support those who willingly participate in carrying it out? In a letter to Harry J. Flynn, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, regarding the Catholic Church's “just war” theory I wrote,

The evil in the world today is war and violence as a means of settling disputes between nations and people. To suggest that some evil is just in order to fight another evil brings rationalism as justification to the victor. The victor then can have a moral claim, via "just war", to accept it all, atrocities included.

Those who rationalize the morality of supporting the troops make the immoral possible. We are either opposed to the illegal war in Iraq, or we are not. We can support the victims of war on all sides, without supporting the killers, and without encouraging the killing. To do otherwise is to lack the conviction that the Iraq war is illegal and a crime against humanity.

War is murder. We cannot be in support of murderers while opposing murder. I will not honor that which makes murder and war possible. Liberals and Democrats want to condemn war and then honor or commemorate those who make war. Those who kill are killers no matter what the cause or ideology, or what the flag, or what the religion, or what the reason. If, as Nancy Pelosi says, “There is one proposition on which we all agree: our troops have performed excellently in Iraq. They have done everything asked of them”, then she, and we, have honored the killing in our name and at our request. I will not honor that.

The recent non-binding resolution passed in Congress against the escalation in Iraq has the Democrats having it both ways, again. Those in Congress who oppose war should shed the G.W. Bush avoidance complex of not taking responsibility. They should offer the proof of their convictions for ending the war by defunding it. U.S. Representative, Dennis Kucinich, stated,

The Federal Court has made it abundantly clear that once a war is well underway, Congress' real power is to cut off funds. Funding the war is approval of the war.

Answer 7

Couldn't go down,
Yes If they stood up and took a stand instead of taking the cowards way out they would be more popular. If they had done that in the begining we wouldn't be in Iraq now.

Answer 8

No, because they are F'ing over the American troops like they did in Vietnam and the American public will not tolerate that. They have their ratings in the gutter because they have not done anything productive like securing the border, enforcing immigration laws already on the books. They have done nothing but pass non binding resolutions, try to shove amnesty down our throats and put our soldiers lives in more danger. That is why they are rated so low.

Answer 9

No, the approval would probably go even lower. The Republicans have congress right where they want them.. Bush is so happy he nearly pees his pants.

Congress promised, stupidly to stop the war.. but how can they.. Bush vetoes everything.. and yet the country stupidly blames congress.

So Bush is in a win-win situation on lose- lose war. He is not going to win it.. and will not allow Congress to stop it.

So now what? Just wait him out.. and pray for all those extra lives we lose because of his stupidity!

Answer 10

It amazes me as to how hush hush this forum is about the fact that vetoes can be overridden. They have enough votes to override any veto that Bush makes. They simply don't use it because the in truth, they support what he's doing and are duping the public.