WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 10, 2014) – As Congress returns to Washington, its performance reviews remain in the cellar, and more voters than ever think it’s capable of making a bad situation worse.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey conducted earlier this week finds that only 8 percent of likely U.S. voters think Congress is doing a good or excellent job.
Sixty-six percent rate its performance as poor, but that’s a noticeable improvement from 75 percent in November, which was Congress’ highest negative in seven years of regular surveying.
Congress’ positive ratings bottomed out at 5 percent in late December 2012 but were only slightly higher all of last year. It doesn’t help that 69 percent think no matter how bad things are, Congress can always find a way to make them worse.
Similarly unchanged from past surveys is the view that most members of Congress don’t care what their constituents think. Only 12 percent think most members listen most to the voters they represent, with 78 percent believing they listen most to their party leaders in Congress.
Furthermore, just 17 percent believe most members of Congress care what their constituents think. Only 24 percent think their representative in Congress is the best possible person for the job.
Voters continue to say the economy and healthcare are the most important issues when it comes to how they will vote in the next congressional election.
Voters trust Republicans more when it comes to the economy, healthcare, the war on rerror, immigration, taxes, Social Security, job creation, issues affecting small business and government spending. Democrats earn more trust when it comes to the war in Afghanistan, energy, education, the environment and gun control. The two parties run even when it comes to government ethics and corruption.
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