Blaming Everyone In Washington
John Podhoretz, writing in the New York Post, notes that the approval rating for Congress is measurably lower than it is for President Bush. And, he says, it is an indication of who the country is blaming for the mess in Washington: everyone.
We all know President Bush has had lousy approval numbers for two years. We know also that the disastrous approval ratings for Congress in 2006 were the best indicator that some major changes were going to take place last Election Day.
Less well-known is that throughout 2005 and 2006, generic approval ratings for Democrats were lower than Bush's.
Congress and the Democrats both saw an uptick after the November election, with the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll registering a congressional approval rating of 36 percent six months ago.
Ah, for the good old days.
That poll now gives Congress an approval rating of 27 percent - 6 points lower than President Bush's poll average at Real Clear Politics.
So, when you hear about Bush being "deeply unpopular," remember that he's measurably more popular than Congress.
Congressional leaders are not faring well. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi scores a 36 percent rating - which, as Noam Levey of The Los Angeles Times notes, is nine points lower than Newt Gingrich's approval rating in 1995, at exactly the same point during his speakership.
Even more alarming for Democrats, the very accurate Rasmussen poll features a 19 percent approval rating - yes, one-nine - for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Now, Republicans have no business celebrating the political mire in which Democrats find themselves. There's been a calamitous drop-off in the number of people who identify themselves as Republicans over the past year - from 37 percent in some reckonings in 2006 to 27 percent now. And in yesterday's L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll, Democrats hold an 8 point lead over Republicans when people are asked which party they'd vote for in next year's presidential bid.
Aside from the humorous aspects of the fact that Harry Reid actually makes Dick Cheney look like a rock star, there really is little to celebrate in all this news - for either party. But I'll point out, again, that the absolutely dismal poll numbers for Congress are going to hurt - badly - those candidates seeking the presidential nomination who are current members of Congress. This is bad news for the Democrats because both frontrunners are sitting US Senators. (This is aside from the fact that the track record for Senators gaining the presidency is rather bleak.)
