By Lara Seligman - 09-05-13 01:53 PM ET
A new poll finds little difference in public opinion for the Democratic-led Senate and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. [WATCH VIDEO]
It is no secret that public approval of Congress is at an all-time low: more than three in four Americans, 76 percent, disapprove of the body in the latest national Monmouth University poll. But the survey also found that a majority of partisans don’t see a difference in the two chambers’ performance.
When asked which chamber is doing a better job, 18 percent of respondents picked the House and 14 percent chose the Senate. Sixty percent say both have performed equally.
The breakdown is similar across party lines. Republicans are somewhat more likely to pick the House (32 percent) over the Senate (7 percent), while Democrats are slightly more likely to choose the Senate (20 percent) over the House (10 percent). But among members of both parties, a majority said the two chambers performed about the same.
Meanwhile, 43 percent of Americans said even if one party controlled both chambers of Congress, it would make no difference to congressional performance. Twenty-four percent think single-party leadership would be better for the country, while 20 percent said it would be worse.
“Americans simply do not believe that Washington has been working on their behalf. Even though most of those polled are initially unaware of the party split in Congressional leadership, they don’t think that unified party control would make much of a difference when presented with this information,” said Patrick Murray, director of the New Jersey-based Monmouth University Polling Institute, according to a release. “Not only is Congress broken, but most people seem to believe it is beyond repair.”
The poll of 1,012 adults was conducted from July 25-30, with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
No comments:
Post a Comment