It’s been a cliche in American politics for some time that voters think congress is doing a terrible job, yet believe that their own member of congress is working hard in their best interests, as well as those of the U.S. as a whole. Now, with congressional approval ratings falling to new lows, it seems that voters are even beginning to form new opinions of their own congress members.
Gallup today released a new poll that shows only 46% of U.S. adults now believe their own U.S. representative deserves to be re-elected. According to Gallup this is the lowest that percentage has ever been in one of its surveys.
Related to this is another record low found in the survey, that only 17% of American voters now believe that most members of congress deserve re-election. This represents a huge shift from the 36% that though the same way in late 2012.
These shifting opinions have undoubtedly been caused by the deadlock the current congress faced throughout much of 2013. Repeated in-fighting over fiscal cliffs and budget deadlines in the past few years came to a head last October, when congressional Republicans allowed the U.S. Government to shut down in protest over the Affordable Care Act (AKA “Obamacare”). More than two-thirds of Americans now believe that the current congress is the worst seen in their lifetime.
Image via U.S. Government