Ever since the 2006 midterms, we've heard folks like faceking, Trinity, Biggin', 11INCHCOK, and 1BiGG1 have bleated the talking point that approval ratings for the Democratic-led Congress were even lower than those of George W. Bush.
I've rebutted that talking point before (here, for example) -- it was true only in an apples-to-oranges sort of way, and not as a comparison of equal things. But now, even that comparison is no longer true:
An Ipsos/McClatchy poll released earlier this month shows that the number of Americans who approve of the job Congress is doing has risen from 19% in August 2008 to 37% in February 2009. An Opinion Dynamics poll commissioned by FOX News (!) shows approval for Congress doubling from 20% to 40% over the same period.
CNN paints a less rosy outlook for Congress as a whole: In a poll earlier this month, they peg Congressional approval at only 29%. But this poll went further, asked for Congressional approval by party: Approval of the Democratic leadership in Congress was a whopping sixty percent.
An aside, while I'm looking up polling information: 62% of Americans favor government investigation into the use of torture during the Bush administration (source).
I've rebutted that talking point before (here, for example) -- it was true only in an apples-to-oranges sort of way, and not as a comparison of equal things. But now, even that comparison is no longer true:
An Ipsos/McClatchy poll released earlier this month shows that the number of Americans who approve of the job Congress is doing has risen from 19% in August 2008 to 37% in February 2009. An Opinion Dynamics poll commissioned by FOX News (!) shows approval for Congress doubling from 20% to 40% over the same period.
CNN paints a less rosy outlook for Congress as a whole: In a poll earlier this month, they peg Congressional approval at only 29%. But this poll went further, asked for Congressional approval by party: Approval of the Democratic leadership in Congress was a whopping sixty percent.
An aside, while I'm looking up polling information: 62% of Americans favor government investigation into the use of torture during the Bush administration (source).