Are the claims about Congress's poll numbers just another example of con compartmentalization?

Question

After all, the polls clearly indicate that it's the Republicans in Congress that the people disapprove of, not so much the Democrats.

If you look at this poll summary, you'll see that the Democrats are a little below even money.

http://www.pollingreport.com/cong_dem.htm

Whereas the Republicans

http://www.pollingreport.com/cong_rep.htm

It's the Republicans that are fillibustering measures and Republicans that are upholding Presidential vetoes in opposition to the will of the people.

The cons responding to this question are proving my point. Not one of them has addressed the clear information presented in the poll summaries.

It is clear as day that America disapproves of the Republicans in Congress who still have enough membership to block votes through debate and procedure and, when all else fails, to uphold presidential vetoes.

Answer 1

Looks like you've just hoisted the cons on their own petards. That should take some wind out of their spin.

Answer 2

Congress has never been a popular institution. The typical pattern is that people aprove of thier representative, perhaps thier Senator, but disaprove of the body as a whole.

To a lesser extent, people tend to aprove of thier party's representatives/senators more than the Congress as a whole. And, there are simply more Democrats than Republicans...

Congress does have an abysmal aproval rating, though, even for a Congress, and that reflects a lot of Domocratic dissatisfaction with a body that thier own party controls. I'm sure they'd aprove of it a bit more if that control were absolute, rather than a mere majority, but a majority in Congress can accomplish a /lot/ more than the Dems have managed so far. After all, the level of control Dems have over Congress now is not that different from the level of Control the Reps had before...

Answer 3

With little else left to defend, the "Congress has a lower approval rating than Bush” appears to be the only thing neocons have left to defend the President.

Like just about all neocon assertions, this is a half truth. While some polls have Congress below the president, the latest ABC News poll has 35% for Bush, 39% for Congress. Certainly no reason to just for joy for congressmen, but not less than Bush.

But what the neocons aren’t saying is just WHY Congress’ ratings are so low. They are low because people don’t feel Congress has done enough to end our quagmire in Iraq. They are low not because they disagree with the president, but because they’re not doing enough to stop him.

Lord knows, many on the left feel betrayed that the Democrats haven’t shown enough backbone.

Can any neocon with a straight face say low ratings for Congress are because people agree with the president’s policies?

Answer 4

When someone talks about Bush's low numbers in the polls, all of a sudden his supporters talk about how low the numbers in the polls are for Congress.

It didn't happen in the past because Congess was controlled by Republicans. Now that it is controlled by Democrats, the dittoheads are suddenly interested in the poll numbers for Congress.

It's not a Republican issue, nor a Democrat issue. The policies of the Bush Administration IMO have been fiascos.

Answer 5

I notice that whenever they say "Congress has a lower approval rating than Bush," they never cite the DISAPPROVAL ratings. For Congress, it's around 50 percent, but for Bush it's over 60 percent.

But then, if Republicans could do math, it really would've been Ronald Reagan in 1984, and not Bill Clinton in 1998, who balanced the budget. Now who's got "fuzzy math"?

Answer 6

Little bit of spin and poll cherry picking- look at the others. The fact is that CONGRESS has a pathetic approval rating and the president isnt far behind. Both could do a lot better and thats the bottom line cause stone cold says so

Answer 7

Nope
I suggest you stand back and look at the numbers.
Congress approval ratings are going down.
They are lower than when the GOP lost the majority.

Consider it a warning come 08.
If the surge works and things do turn around in in Iraq you will be paying a heavy price for betting against the military.

Answer 8

Anyone with first grade math skills understand that it still takes 60 votes to pass anything....and the republicans are the ones holding things up. So therefore it's very foolish to blame the dems for congress' low ratings.

Answer 9

I see so many people claiming that Congress' aproval rating is lower than Bush. But according to this poll, it's Congress at 37%, Bush at 33%.

Answer 10

Do you ever read any of the major anti-war blogs out there? There are an awful lot of people who are just as upset with the Dems (who voted for the war & haven't been able to stop it) as they are with the GOP. Once this summer Surge is over & 1000s more Iraqi civilians & US troops have been killed I think you'll see the poll numbers be about even with people disapproving of Dems & the GOP.