Rasmussen - America Wants to Throw The BUMS OUT !!

American voters are not satisfied with the amount "Hopey Changey"  they have gotten since election day. According to the latest Rasmussen Poll , 57% of voters would vote to fire the entire Congress and start all over by replacing them with a new set of "representatives." Only 25% would keep the group we have now.

Even though they are the party in control, only a plurality of Democrats (43%) want to keep the entire Congress.On the other hand, the vast majority of Independents (70%) would "throw all the bums out." Republicans, not surprisingly, overwhelmingly support replacing everyone in the Congress.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) now believe that members of Congress are overpaid. Maybe that's because they refuse to read legislation. Just five percent (5%) think their Congress member is paid too little. Thirty percent (30%) think the pay is in the Goldilocks zone...just right.

Speaking of reading the bills, Have you noticed that many of the questioners at town hall meetings refer to the page and paragraph number on the they are discussing. That may be the reason  that most voters say they understand the health care legislation better than Congress. Three-out-of-four (74%) trust their own economic judgment more than Congress’.

Just 14% give Congress good or excellent review for their overall performance, while only 16% believe it’s Very Likely that Congress will address the most important problems facing our nation. Seventy-five percent (75%) say members of Congress are more interested in their own careers than they are in helping people and 37% say most in Congress have extramarital affairs.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Americans believe that when members of Congress meet with regulators and other government officials, they do so to help their friends and hurt their political opponents. Most believe that’s why politicians are able to solicit contributions from business leaders. Most, however, say it’s generally a good investment because political donors get more than their money’s worth. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of American adults say political donors get more than their money back in terms of favors from members of Congress.

Despite these reviews, more than 90% of Congress routinely gets reelected every two years. It’s a shock when any incumbent loses. One explanation for this phenomenon frequently heard in Washington, D.C. is that “people hate Congress but love their own congressman.”

When the Constitution was written, the nation’s founders expected that there would be a 50% turnover in the House of Representatives every election cycle. That was the experience they witnessed in state legislatures at the time (and most of the state legislatures offered just one-year terms). For well over 100 years after the Constitution was adopted, the turnover averaged in the 50% range as expected.


In the 20th century, turnover began to decline. As power and prestige flowed to Washington during the New Deal era, fewer and fewer members of Congress wanted to leave. In 1968, congressional turnover fell to single digits for the first time ever, and it has remained very low ever since.

Judging by the anger of the people at town hall meetings, I would be very surprised if the coming mid-term elections didn't see a return to the 50% turnover. The part that politicians, don't (or refuse to) understand is that it isn't a Democratic or Republican party problem.  Americans feel that their representatives are not listening to their constituents, and will vote to find ones that will listen.