Congressional Approval Falls to Lowest in HISTORY

Congressional Approval ratings have fallen into the single digits for the first time since Rasmussen began tracking America's perception of congress. Only 9% say congress is doing a good or excellent Job, 72% say that all Congress cares about is furthering their careers. This is a real tribute to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. The full results are below:


Congressional Performance

Congressional Approval Falls

The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category.

Last month, 11% of voters gave the legislature good or excellent ratings. Congress has not received higher than a 15% approval rating since the beginning of 2008.

The percentage of Democrats who give Congress positive ratings fell from 17% last month to 13% this month. The number of Democrats who give Congress a poor rating remained unchanged. Among Republicans, 8% give Congress good or excellent ratings, up just a point from last month. Sixty-five percent (65%) of GOP voters say Congress is doing a poor job, down a single point from last month.

Voters not affiliated with either party are the most critical of Congressional performance. Just 3% of those voters give Congress positive ratings, down from 6% last month. Sixty-three percent (63%) believe Congress is doing a poor job, up from 57% last month.

Just 12% of voters think Congress has passed any legislation to improve life in this country over the past six months. That number has ranged from 11% to 13% throughout 2008. The majority of voters (62%) say Congress has not passed any legislation to improve life in America.

Voters hold little positive sentiment about the future. Just 41% find it at least somewhat likely that Congress will address important problems facing our nation in the near future, while 55% find this unlikely.

Despite these negative attitudes towards Congress, Democrats continue to enjoy a double digit lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Most voters (72%) think most members of Congress are more interested in furthering their own political careers.

1* Okay, how do you rate the way that Congress is doing its job?

2% Excellent

7% Good

36% Fair

52% Poor

2% Not sure

2* Over the past year, has Congress passed any legislation that will significantly improve life in America?

12% Yes

62% No

26% Not sure

3* Over the next year, how likely is it that Congress will seriously address the most important problems facing our nation?

9% Very likely

32% Somewhat likely

39% Not very likely

16% Not likely at all

4% Not sure

4* Are most members of Congress sincerely interested in helping people or are they just interested in their own careers?

14% Helping people

72% Their own careers

14% Not sure

NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence