It seems the public has noticed, as this recent Gallup poll reports - only 12% of all respondents are confident in Congress. This is the story that's getting the most attention, but take a look at some of the other lower scorers:
Public schools - 33% (maybe the Dems should be a little careful before defending education status quo).
Mass media news - 24% (tv news & newspapers - even the masses realize that mass media is choosing ratings over veritas.)
Unions - 20% - considering that only 12% of all Americans belong to a union, it looks like the only people who care are those with a financial relationship with the unions (members, plus retirees and extended family.)
Finally, it is interesting to note 2 disconnects:
Small businesses are well-received (60%) while big business scores poorly (20%). Relatively speaking, the same dynamic exists between the the medical system (35%) and HMOs (13%.)
Hat tip: Club for Growth blog
2 comments:
I didn't realize the Police reunion tour was that successful!
Democrats don't have the backbone to challenge Bushie and friends. It's even harder in an election year...
The other day I heard that since the election cycle is non-stop, Congress no longer has the open space to broker deals between the two parties.
That's not quite what the results showed. The results that you describe measure who has "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in Congress. Both are strong statements. It drops from there to "some," "very little" and "none." If we assume that "some" is the middle ground, meaning "I'm basically confident in this institution, but it's nothing I'm fired up about," the numbers look very different. Unions enjoy a 64% rating. Public schools are at 75%. Newspapers are at 69%. Congress is at 67%. Frankly, I'm surprised that the numbers are so high.
In a relatively sense, the newly-conservative Supreme Court and Bush's disastrous presidency are both enjoying all-time lows, too. So if you want to declare a 67% rating to be terrible, you've got to agree that this isn't a public condemnation of Democrats, it's a public condemnation of politics and government.
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