- Banned
- #1
Many of the republicans on here seem incapable of discussing those public opinion polls that come out from time to time and ask the people to grade the performance of DEMOCRATS IN congress versus REPUBLICANS IN congress.
Those polls are substantially different than the ones asking the public to give their approval rating for congress in general, Congress is made up of just about evenly sized caucuses of democrats and republicans, and the approval rating for congress covers the public's opinion of the entire group.
Democrats hold slim majorities in both chambers, but their lack of a veto-proof majority and the presence of a republican president limits their abilities to pass any solidly democratic initiatives (troop funding and stem cell research come to mind). The people ARE disenchanted with this gridlock. They are disappointed in the leadership of both parties in congress, no doubt. But the facts are clear: since well before the 2006 elections, whenever asked to differentiate between the performance of democrats in congress versus republicans in congress, the people's opinions are clear and unambiguous and fairly constant.
I wish that someone from the right would actually discuss THESE numbers instead of running away from them and posting congressional approval ratings as if they were synonymous. Come on, you righties..... give it a try: Explain this trend...explain why your party's congressional delegation continues to get lower marks than the democratic congressional delegation.
public approval ratings:
congressional democrats versus congressional republicans:
FOX 9/06
D 39
R 34
CNN 10/06
D 42
R 36
CBS 2/07
D 54
R 41
Gallup 2/07
D 41
R 33
Harris 4/07
D 35
R 22
ABC/WP 6/07
D 44
R 36
http://www.pollingreport.com/cong_dem.htm
http://www.pollingreport.com/cong_rep.htm
Those polls are substantially different than the ones asking the public to give their approval rating for congress in general, Congress is made up of just about evenly sized caucuses of democrats and republicans, and the approval rating for congress covers the public's opinion of the entire group.
Democrats hold slim majorities in both chambers, but their lack of a veto-proof majority and the presence of a republican president limits their abilities to pass any solidly democratic initiatives (troop funding and stem cell research come to mind). The people ARE disenchanted with this gridlock. They are disappointed in the leadership of both parties in congress, no doubt. But the facts are clear: since well before the 2006 elections, whenever asked to differentiate between the performance of democrats in congress versus republicans in congress, the people's opinions are clear and unambiguous and fairly constant.
I wish that someone from the right would actually discuss THESE numbers instead of running away from them and posting congressional approval ratings as if they were synonymous. Come on, you righties..... give it a try: Explain this trend...explain why your party's congressional delegation continues to get lower marks than the democratic congressional delegation.
public approval ratings:
congressional democrats versus congressional republicans:
FOX 9/06
D 39
R 34
CNN 10/06
D 42
R 36
CBS 2/07
D 54
R 41
Gallup 2/07
D 41
R 33
Harris 4/07
D 35
R 22
ABC/WP 6/07
D 44
R 36
http://www.pollingreport.com/cong_dem.htm
http://www.pollingreport.com/cong_rep.htm
