America Hearts Congress

Well, sort of. 44 percent approve and 54 percent disapprove. That sounds bad until you add context. The 108th Congress, serving in 2005-2006, had its highest approval number at 43 percent and its lowest disapproval number at 53 percent. So people like the Democratic congress better than they like the Republican one. 44/54 is also considerably better than the 35/62 approve/disapprove split Bush gets. Indeed, fully 49 percent of respondents say they strongly disapprove "of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president" -- Bush Derangement Syndrome has gone mainstream.

Nancy Pelosi, however, is much more popular than either Bush or Congress generically -- earning a 53/35 approve/disapprove split. Ever since she became the top House Democrat, the DC press corps has been insisting that Pelosi is an unpopular figure whose bad for the Democrats. This because she's the most robustly liberal person we've seen in high elected office in over ten years. The evidence, however, doesn't bare this theory out. In the spring of 1995, Newt Gingrich's approval numbers were in the thirties.

4/17/07 7:15AM del.icio.us this incoming links

Comments

I wonder what it's like going to bed at night knowing 100 million of your fellow citizens emphatically despise and distrust you? Bush is such a narcissistic sociopathic he probably loses little sleep over it.

Posted by: steve duncan on April 17, 2007 08:04 AM

Also note that "the Democrats in Congress" are at 54/44, vs. 39/59 for "the Republicans in Congress."

Posted by: Blar on April 17, 2007 08:50 AM

Exactly right - why does the press corps hate robust liberals?

Posted by: MDtoMN on April 17, 2007 11:24 AM

It's almost sad, in a way, to see the once-vaunted GOP Talking Points Squad continue to run the only three plays in their playbook, long after they've ceased being effective, completely unwilling to admit that they're losing.

I mean, Pelosi's a San Francisco liberal defeatocrat who hates our troops and wants to surrender to the terrorists. If they send serious men of substance like Dick Cheney to say this loud enough and often enough, surely the country will come around eventually, right? The polls must be wrong. I mean, sure, we've cocked up the country for 6 years and our splendid little war didn't turn out so well, but when force doesn't do the trick the only solution is more force, right? Grrr... tough, macho force. Hey, look over there America, gay marriage! Spanish-speaking construction workers! Oppressive taxation! Why aren't you listening to us anymore?

Posted by: LaFollette Progressive on April 17, 2007 11:43 AM

Small correction: the current Congress is the 110th, so the 2005-6 Congress is the 109th.

As desperation grew in the fall of 2006, the GOP tried to make running against Pelosi a tactic. Apparently it worked really well, so apparently they're trying it again (check out the scary picture of Pelosi).

The RedStaters have taken to calling Pelosi "America's Mother-in-Law," which, in addition to playing on the 50's-TV female stereotype, I suppose is meant to imply that America is stuck with her by default. Apparently people don't seem to mind.

Posted by: Seth D. on April 17, 2007 11:59 AM

You reference the approval ratings between Gingrich in 1995 and Pelosi now, and I know that these are the default comparisons since they are similar periods after the change in Congress, but I'm not sure how this translates exactly. The Speaker of the House position is inherently partisan, since the entire point of that position is to get one party's legislation passed. Thus, the position is a natural target for an administration of the opposite party to demonize.

In the case of Gingrich, the administration that would be doing the demonization was still very much in power at this point in the election cycle, since Clinton was only barely halfway through his first term and thus still eligible for re-election, thus still having an obvious role in the politcal process. Bush right now is nearing complete irrelevancy, with almost nobody giving him any attention on any issue, and the only people who still do are likely always going to view Pelosi negatively. Thus Bush's ability to demonize Pelosi is almost nothing. The approval numbers of Pelosi almost certainly have nothing to do with Pelosi herself as much as with her being the current face in government of not-Bush, in part because of the Bush Administration's efforts to distinguish themselves from her. I'm not sure that anything can be concluded in terms of actual approval of Pelosi herself or of her policies.

Posted by: msmackle on April 17, 2007 04:41 PM

Bear, not bare, when it comes to theories and out.

Posted by: JET on April 17, 2007 11:41 PM

sohbet

Posted by: sohbet on September 22, 2007 08:51 AM

Thanks
Best regards
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