Congress Approval Drops to 21%
Today I am flying the South Carolina State Flag. All is relatively quiet.
Relatively Quiet
The latest “Congress Approval” poll just came out from Gallup. The approval rating dropped 10 points in this last month (Obamacare/Town Hall meetings/9-12) to 21% which is a marked decline as you’ll see from Gallup’s graphs below:
Gallup Poll:“The current drop in overall job approval to 21% particularly reflects a substantial drop in approval among Democrats, whose 36% rating this month is 18 points lower than last month’s 54%, and the lowest since January of this year.” (Read full article here)
Congress - 2009 Approval/Disapproval
The Data is rather breathtaking this month, and this year, as the two graphs to the right are depicting.
One Month 10 Point Drop! On the 2009 Trend graph, notice a 10 point drop in ONE month from 31 to 21 percent approval, and of course a 9 point upswing at the same time for disapproval. The drop in approval is more in one month than it was for the previous 6 months totaled. The sharpness of this curve tells us something significant is happening.
If the direction and steepness of the trend continues, some believe (The Patriot’s Room) there is a complete collapse in confidence for Congress.
Historical Congress Approval
Almost an all-time Low! On the graph to the right is the historical approval trend graph for congress. As you can see it was at an all time low back in 2008 at about 14%, but with Obama’s election, the approval rating came back up. However look at ’09 … it has dropped from 39 to 21, almost an all time low in confidence by the American public in the congress it has elected.
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So where are the numbers coming from?
Dems/Repubs/Independents
Note: for a full summary from Gallup on their “take” on this date go to their website: Gallup.com
The Bottom Line
My Take:
- Democrats: The approval rating, no doubt, is coming down within the Democrat ranks. This could be for one of two reasons, (1) they are not getting the radical legislation passed that they voted for or (2) they are becoming disillusioned with this administration and congress. I believe it is a combination and therefore a sum of both. I know there are radical Democrats, so #1 is valid, but I also believe there are “real” Democrats that do not approve of the radicalism we are seeing happening in Congress today so #2 is valid … add them up and you have a steeper than normal drift downward. Notice the approval for Democrats is below 50 for the first time since February. In one month, the approval dropped 18 percentage points, that is significant something is changing.
- Republicans & Independents: There seems to be general trend toward an already low approval rating from both of these groups. Republicans dropped 4 points while Independents dropped 7 points. (For the Independents, perhaps a slightly steeper trend downward than Republicans because of the two factors (summing) discussed above for Democrats).
- My summary: If we say Democrats are Left, Republicans are Right and Independents are Middle … then we have to say the farther left we go on the spectrum, the greater the degree of disapproval of Congress. (Democrats down 18 points, Independents down 7 points, Republicans down 4 points).
- Notice the overall swing downward is driven mostly by the Democrats with the Independents contributing … it has little to do, statistically, with the Republicans so the “change” is within mostly the Democratic ranks with some contribution from the Independents.
The big Question is “what” is driving these numbers? Is it lack of passage of what the radical left wants or is it a lack of confidence in the actual “functioning” of congress, i.e. not getting ANYthing done? Personally I hope it is the Dems and Independents that are “waking up” and realizing … THIS is not what they voted for … the people running Congress and the Administration are DINOs (Democrats in Name Only) … they are actually DINOsaurs from the failed Marxist ideologies of the past. These are not the Democrats of your father’s party … these people are radicals! Maybe they are seeing it for the first time.
