Econintersect: The latest Gallup Poll survey on public opinion about the U.S. Congress found a 78% disapproval rating, with inaction/gridlock the dominant factor, cited by 59% of disapproval responses. The only other “specifics” with double digit negative responses were actually not really specific: 19% cited a specific policy and 15% were classified as other reasons. Among specific policies, 6% cited the deficit and spending, while 3% specified gun control. No other issue exceeded 2%.
Only 17% approve of Congress in June 2013, while 5% had no opinion. The approval ratings are little changed from month-to-month in 2013, but are up from lows of 10% in 2012 and down from a high of 21% just before the elections in 2012.
Click on graph for larger image of data through May 2013.
The approval ratings reached all-time lows in 2012 and in 2013 have reached low levels seen previously only in 2011 and briefly in 2008 and 2010.
Click on chart for larger image.
Since the deep disapproval of Congress existed before the 2012 election, why didn’t the membership of Congress change more in the election? In 2012 significantly more than 50% of those polled approved of their own congresspersons. In the latest poll only 46% approve of their own representative, so future elections may see more victories by challengers. However, there should be a caveat on that observation. From the Gallup report:
Gallup asked a different group of respondents a separate version of the “representative from your district” question. These respondents were first asked if they knew the name and party of their representative, and then whether they approved of that representative. Thirty-five percent of all respondents surveyed knew the name of their representative and, of this group, an even higher 62% approved of him or her.
The difference between the 62% approval rating among this group and the 46% among all Americans suggests that those who do not know their representative’s name hold him or her in lower regard. Thus, people who don’t know the name of their representative may be evaluating that person largely on their generally negative feelings about how the broader institution is doing.
Sources:
- Gridlock Is Top Reason Americans Are Critical of Congress (Lydia Saad, Gallup Politics, 12 June 2013)
- Congress and the Public (Gallup, 12 June 2013)
- Americans Down on Congress, OK With Own Representative (Elizabeth Mendos, Gallup Politics, 09 May 2013)
