Poll: Obama more popular than Congress

[spanone]

WASHINGTON - Americans have come to detest Congress ever more deeply as it nears the end of a nasty fight over health care. But more than half still back President Barack Obama, a bright spot for a Democratic Party counting on its leader to help stave off expected losses in elections this fall.

The latest Associated Press-GfK poll found that fewer people approve of Congress than at any point in Obama's presidency. Support has dropped significantly since January to a dismal 22 percent as the health care debate has roiled Capitol Hill. Neither Republicans nor Democrats are safe; half of all people say they want to fire their congressman.

Conversely, Obama's job-performance standing is holding fairly steady at 53 percent. And over the past two months, the Democrat has gained ground on national security issues, specifically the subsiding Iraq war and the escalating Afghanistan war, as he has spent most of his time — at least publicly — on domestic matters like the economy and health care. On those issues, he still has the support of about half the people.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35800228/ns/politics-white_house/

[Bitwit1234]

1. Congress does not have a chance

republicans are seeing to that. They are obstructing and messing up everything they can that is being done. They want to take over congress in November and see obstructing as their only chance.

I see that if any really true bloodied American votes for a republican they should instantly be sent to a psychiatrist for evaluation. After what bush and his gang of crooked corrupt republicans in congress did to this country they have to be deranged to even consider voting for them again.

[Tempest]

2. Once again it's the Repugs dragging down Congress' approval rating

There's a six point difference between the Democrats and Repugs.

www.pollingreport.com

[gulliver]

3. So was Bush. This poll is idiotic, IMO.

I think it is absurd to compare a single man with a large, widely diverse group of 535 people. IMO, there are possibly three reasonable comparisons:

1. Obama vs. the poll respondent's own representatives
2. Obama vs. the Democrats in Congress
3. Obama vs. the Republicans in Congress

I think we would find that Obama would routinely trounce the Republicans in Congress, dramatically increasing his power. And such a poll would have the distinction of actually having some political validity as opposed to the current Obama vs. Congress poll. After all, when Bush and his Republicans were destroying the country for the last eight years, I thoroughly disapproved of "Congress," but only the Republicans in it.