64% Say Congress Is Doing A Poor Job

Rasmussen Reports
Mar. 22, 2010

Voters continue to give Congress some of its lowest marks ever.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 11% of voters rate Congress' performance as good or excellent, a range it's been hovering in since late 2007.

But 64% say Congress is doing a poor job. The good news is that's a seven-point improvement from last month's 71%, the highest negative grade recorded in over 40 months of tracking. The bad news is that 64% is the second worst grade the legislators have earned in that same time period and is up 21 points from late March a year ago.

It's important to note, however, that this survey was taken Friday and Saturday nights -- before the House's 219-to-212 vote to pass the controversial national health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats.

As Scott Rasmussen notes in his new book, "If we ever found a Little League team behaving as poorly as the Republicans and Democrats or the congressman and senators, we'd probably disband the team and go home. Heck, we might even disband the entire league and bulldoze the field." In Search of Self-Governance is available from Rasmussen Reports and at Amazon.com.

Forty-one percent (41%) think most members of Congress are corrupt, a view while 33% disagree. Another 26% are not sure.

Eighteen percent (18%) of voters now say Congress has passed legislation that will significantly improve life in America. Fifty-seven percent (57%) disagree. Twenty-five percent (25%) more are not sure.

On the eve of the House health care vote, just 40% said that Congress is at least somewhat likely to seriously address the most important issues facing the nation. Fifty-five percent (55%) said that was not likely to happen.

Seventy-six percent (76%) think most members of Congress are more interested in their own careers than in helping people. Just 12% say most in Congress are more interested in helping people.

Just 20% of voters think most members of Congress understood what is in the health care plan before they voted on it.

Sixty-three percent (63%) of all voters nationally now think it would be better for the country if most incumbents in Congress were defeated this November. Just 27% of voters say their representative in Congress is the best possible person for the job.

The Political Class is far more enthusiastic about Congress' performance. While 77% of Mainstream voters say Congress is doing a poor job, 53% of the Political Class rate its performance as good or excellent.

Eighty-one percent (81%) of Republicans and 72% of voters not affiliated with either major party say Congress is doing a poor job, a view shared by just 42% of Democrats, whose party currently controls both the House and Senate. The health care plan passed in the House yesterday without a single Republican vote.

Fifty percent (50%) of voters say they're less likely to vote this November to reelect a member of Congress who votes for the health care plan.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains by far the most unpopular congressional leader, but negatives for Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader John Boehner have reached or matched their highest levels in a year.

But then 60% of voters believe neither Republican political leaders nor Democratic political leaders have a good understanding of what is needed today.