Congressional Poll Numbers

For months and months, it seemed, teh best troll evah dutifully pointed out to us how, no matter how low President Bush's approval ratings were, the approval ratings of Congress were just as bad, if not worse.

Now we have an explanation: It's the Republicans.

Via Crooks and Liars, I tracked back to this Gallup press release from Mid-December. There's even some art:


And an explanation:

Just one in four Americans approve of the job the Republicans in Congress are doing, an approval rating just below that given to President Bush. Americans are somewhat more charitable in their ratings of the Democrats in Congress.

The 25% approval rating for the Republicans in Congress establishes a new Gallup Poll low, surpassing the 26% measured about this time last year. Gallup first began asking about approval of the Congressional parties in 1999.

Congressional Democrats' approval rating is also low from an historical perspective, but does represent a significant improvement from 30% measured a year ago, their lowest rating to date.

The overall approval rate for the Democrats in Congress? 37%.
For Republicans? 25%.

So while the approval ratings of the Congressional Republicans is at an all time low, there's been a 7% uptick from last year for their Democratic colleagues.

Huh. I wonder how they'll spin this one.

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