Posted on 07/13/2007 11:36:58 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - In the eyes of the public, Congress is doing even worse than the president.
Public satisfaction with the job lawmakers are doing has fallen 11 points since May, to 24 percent, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. That's lower than for President Bush, who hasn't fared well lately, either.
Bush has been taking heat over the Iraq war, his decision to spare a former top vice presidential aide from going to prison and his desire for an overhaul of immigration laws that critics said would give a free pass to illegal immigrants. His job approval rating in the AP-Ipsos survey remained virtually unchanged at 33 percent.
The 24 percent approval rating for Congress matched its previous low, which came in June 2006, five months before Democrats won control of the House and Senate due to public discontent with the job Republicans were doing.
Just two months ago, 35 percent of the public approved of Congress' work.
Poll respondents from both political parties say they're tired of the fighting between Congress and the White House, and want the two branches of government to work together on such issues as education, health care and the Iraq war.
"They don't approve of anything he does," Theresa Holsten, 55, a Republican and unemployed resident of Lawton, Okla., said of Congress. "He can't do anything right, according to what some people say. It irritates the living daylights out of me."
Tammy Lambirth, 42, a data researcher from San Antonio, disapproves of "all the fighting that they do all the time."
The latest tussle involves Bush's refusal to hand over documents and let former White House aides answer questions from the Democratic-controlled Congress about the firing of U.S. attorneys. The dispute could end up in federal court.
"The Republicans are just stonewalling everything, and the Democrats are just not stepping up and making them do what they need to do, especially about Iraq," said Lambirth, a Democrat. "They need to make our troops get out of Iraq."
While the public's approval of Congress has dropped 11 points since May, the percentage of Democrats who are turning up their noses at Congress — like Lambirth — nearly doubled. Among Republicans, though, not so much.
Approval among Democrats fell 21 points, from 48 percent in May to 27 percent.
It remained low among Republicans, at 20 percent, and has not changed significantly in the past two months.
Democrats won control of Congress on the strength of their promises to end the Iraq war, but so far have failed to do it. Bush vetoed one spending bill that included a deadline for ending the war, and Democrats don't have the votes to override him.
An increase in the federal minimum wage became law, but much of the Democratic agenda has cleared the House only to become bottled up in the Senate, where the party has a much narrower working majority.
Steve Wofford, 46, of Scottsdale, Ariz., a moderate Republican who runs a software consulting company, said having a Congress and presidency controlled by opposite parties generally is good, but apparently not in this case.
"They're not addressing the issues that are worth addressing," he said. "They seem to be more interested in fighting over Libby, or something like that."
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff who was convicted of lying and obstructing justice in the investigation into the outing of an undercover CIA official. Bush recently commuted Libby's 30-month prison sentence, meaning he will not go to prison. Congress is investigating that, too.
Among other survey findings:
_Bush's marks on his handling of the economy and domestic issues like health care, education and the environment, held steady, at 37 percent on the economy and 33 percent on domestic matters. Last month, Bush was at 37 percent approval for his stewardship of the economy, and 32 percent on domestic issues.
_On handling of foreign policy, including terrorism, 38 percent approved, compared with 35 percent last month.
_On handling the Iraq war, 31 percent approved, compared with 28 percent last month.
_Just about one-quarter of the people, or 26 percent, said the country is headed in the right direction. Last month, 21 percent said the country was on the right track.
The telephone survey of 1,004 adults was conducted July 9-11 by Ipsos, an international public opinion research company. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
___
AP Manager of News Surveys Trevor Tompson, AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and Associated Press writer Christine Simmons contributed to this report.
fwiw
24%?...I’m surprised it’s that high.......
LOL
In less than 2 years, voters will have an opportunity to flush who they will. That is the poll that truly counts.
It’s hard for me to see how this is good for the Democrats going into 2008. They’ve shown that, even with power, they can’t get anything done. To be honest, I can’t help but wonder if the worst thing that ever happened to them was winning by the slim margin that they did. It gives them the appearance of power, but it’s impossible to govern without President Bush’s approval. In the Senate, for instance, the Dems have the narrowest possible ‘majority’ possible, with one of their Dems permanently off sick and Joe Lieberman often votes with the GOP. In the face of 49 Republicans, that makes a tough thing for the Dems.
Recall them. They are no longer relative to the support of this country. Cut off their money and maybe they’ll fall back into line. If not, replace them. Those that want our troops to look like loosers, fire them and charge them with treason.
Welcome to FR and i agree that how this (low polls) is good for the Democrats going into 2008.
....and if you factor in the Senate’s Illegal Immigration is good for you scam, it gets worse.
The real question is what happens when they are in the negative points column?
The effing economy, by all standards (minus high energy prices) is above and beyond the standards the Drive By Media set up in the 1990’s in order to declare the Clinton economy a success.
What this shows is the Drive By Media still has strangle hold on how info gets passed on the sheeple. What it also shows when you are Republican president, you can never, ever count on the Drive By Media to toot your horn over any success. You have to go out and do it yourself. Certainly most of the Republicans in congress won’t do it because they are too busy trying to get on the right side of the Drive By Media.
Reading the Reagan Diaries right now and he notes in several entries how disgusted he was with his own party at not giving him support. Nixon so much said that too prior to the Watergate mess. Give the Rats credit where it’s due. They at least go to bat more than a few times for their leaders. We hang or out to dry even if history later proves those leaders correct. Look how much some of these same Republicans that hung Reagan out to dry that now can’t say his name enough.
The GOP is a stupid and probably useless party.
We all need to be working toward getting Republicans to go to the polls on election day.
The Democrats won nothing in the last election. They got their numbers because too many Republicans didn’t go vote.
One of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard is that they (Republicans) admitted that they were too mad to vote. That is totally insane.
What we ought to do is get a 70-75% vote at the very least. Then we can say the American people are behind us.
Many will spin these numbers as due to the fact that Congress didn’t pass immigration “reform”. The truth is that the Government has little or no credibility with a wide swarth of the American people. Like when Chertoff says that its impossible to enforce immigration law. Or when the Treasure Dept says inflation is only running at 3%.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
“What this shows is the Drive By Media still has strangle hold on how info gets passed on the sheeple.”
We have had “Guns and Butter.” The stock market is at an all time record.
And yet when you hear the election talked about by the Lefties or the MSM they make it sound like it was a landslide. They keep linking the election and the poll showing that 70 percent of Americans want us out of Iraq. Hell, I would like us out of Iraq. I have a son-in-law, a grandson and a nephew whose safety I wouldn’t have to pray for quite so often, but I want us out as victors, not as losers.
To hear them tell it they, the Dems, won the election by a landslide and it was all based on getting us out of Iraq whatever the cost. And the MSM does nothing to correct the spin.
Sure is discouraging!
The other day, I heard it was 14 percent. I guess it depends on the poll.
They are ignoring the issues people really care about: Gas prices, securing the border, killing terrorists, protecting US jobs and industry.
No body gives a damn about Scooter Libby, The Veeps budget, etc. Fiddling while Rome burns. Anyone who runs for office on a "kick the bums out" platform is going to win big. Any Republican that runs on that message will win big. Too bad the GOP leadership doesn't understand this....
I’d say what I think about our Congress and Admin, but it would just get me thrown in jail and they’d still be acting stupid and criminal.
They think this is a game playing to their respective bases and assorted media types while attempting to keep the funding from their corporate sponsors.
If I were in charge right now I’d line all of them up and fire the lot.
No more democrats. No more republicans. Enough.
Is it any wonder?
The Dems have an issue with IFF aka Identification FRiend or Foe..
Democrats: Miers may be held in contempt
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1865571/posts
this says the Soros stalinists are disappointed with
the Pelosi socialists. This also says the “squishy middle”
is in the cave sleeping with bears.
This is excellent God given news in it’s analysis.
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