Heading For Trouble

A new poll just out spells trouble for the members of Congress. A AP-Ipsos poll puts the approval rate for Congress at the same 35% level that Bush bashers love to beat the president with.

The survey found only 35 percent approve of how Congress is handling its job, down 5 percentage points in a month. That gives lawmakers the same bleak approval rating as Bush, who has been mired at about that level since last fall, including his dip to a record low for the AP-Ipsos poll of 32 percent last January.

“It's mostly Iraq'' plus a lack of progress in other areas, said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who heads the House GOP's campaign committee. “These are not good numbers for an incumbent, and it doesn't matter if you have an R or a D next to your name.''

Democrats agree the problem is largely Iraq, which has dominated this year's session of Congress while producing little more than this month's Bush veto of a bill requiring the withdrawal of U.S. troops. It has also overshadowed House-passed bills on stem cell research, student loans and other subjects that the White House opposes, they say.

I'd also point out that these numbers are a disaster for those members of Congress who are running after their party nomination for president in 2008. It is extremely unlikely that the voters are going to reward a member of the current Congress with a promotion. As has been pointed out before - by Democratic party campaign adviser Doug Schoen - the Democratic party has a very, very real danger of bearing a disproportionate share of the blame for the public's perceptions of Congressional failings.

Other Links to this Post

1. Blue Crab Boulevard » Already Dismal Ratings For Congress Get Worse — Tuesday, 15 May , 2007 @ 6:39 am