Congress still has an unfavorable rating nearly 13 points lower then the Unpopular President Bush. 30% of Democrats don’t know who the Majority Leader of the Senate is. Speaker Pelosi enjoys a 40% favorability rating slightly above President Bush’s Rating.
Fifty-five percent (55%) of U.S. voters rate the current Democratic-led Congress’ job performance as poor in a new Rasmussen Reports survey taken the night after Election Day. Just 11% think Congress is doing a good or excellent job.
Republicans give Congress poor marks by two-to-one over Democrats – 74% to 37%. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of unaffiliated voters agree.
But just 19% of Democrats say Congress is doing a good or excellent job, as do 11% of unaffiliated voters. Three percent (3%) of GOP voters rate their performance as good only.
Congress has consistently scored lower this year in voter approval than even President Bush who has hit record lows for his presidency. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of voters, given the option in early October of keeping or replacing the entire Congress, said they would like to throw them all out and start over again.
In Tuesday’s elections, Democrats added at least six seats to their majority in the Senate and 19 or more to their majority in the House, so voters clearly took out their unhappiness with Congress more on Republicans. With a Democrat in the White House, it will be interesting to see whether voter perceptions of Congress change.
As of now, however, voters generally view the Democrats’ top congressional leadership unfavorably, too. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wasn’t even known to a sizable percentage of his own party members.
In a separate survey on Election Day, 42% of voters had an unfavorable view of Reid, including 27% who said their view of him was Very Unfavorable. Twenty-eight percent (28%) had a favorable view of the Democratic senator from Nevada, but just six percent (6%) said that opinion was Very Favorable.
Over one-quarter of voters (27%) on Election Day said they didn’t know who Reid was. Even 30% of Democrats didn’t know him, compared to 23% of Republicans and 29% of unaffiliated voters.
Then there’s House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the outspoken San Francisco Democrat. Forty percent (40%) had a favorable view of her, but 53% regarded her unfavorably. Fourteen percent (14%) had a Very Favorable view of Pelosi, compared to 39% who had a Very Unfavorable opinion of her.
Source: rasmussenreports.com
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