So the low ratings of Congress merely mean the American people rightly see Congress as not counting.
As for the poll results, there is a flavor of push-polling, at least in the way they are reported:
Pollster: do you think we should be spending $10 billion a month of your tax dollars in an endless war?
Pollee: Definitely not!
Pollster: Which party do you think can better manage the war?
Pollee: Uh, let me think . . .
BobW
--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> [Interesting take on Congress' low ratings from a
> leading Democratic
> functionary.]
>
> <http://www.gqrr.com/index.php?ID=2082>
>
> NPR: New and Emerging Issues Widen the Deomcrats'
> 2008 Lead
> Greenberg Quinlan Rosner / Public Opinion Strategies
>
> Executive Summary
>
> As anger with the country’s direction grows worse,
> the evolving
> issues debated in the Congress and in the
> presidential primaries and
> fought out with President Bush are virtually all
> pushing the country
> further into the arms of the Democrats, widening the
> Democrats’ lead,
> including that of Hillary Clinton. We asked about
> ten issues ‘being
> debated’ today. By 23 points, 54 to 31 percent,
> voters say that
> health insurance for children is making them more
> likely to vote
> Democratic for Congress. As the battle over the
> budget begins, the
> evolving debate is pushing voters by 18 points to
> the Democrats on
> ‘the budget and budget deficit' and even by 10
> points on ‘taxes and
> spending.'
>
> While approval of Congress has dropped to 25
> percent, voters’
> response to that is to elect more Democrats to
> Congress. We asked
> voters specifically about ‘the way things are going
> in Congress’ and
> by 13 points (48 to 35 percent), it led them to vote
> more Democratic.
> The Republicans still own the mess in Washington and
> voters still
> want to vote for change.
>
> Democrats, in a generic-ballot presidential race,
> now hold a 13-point
> lead (49 to 36 percent) over Republicans, and are
> winning counties
> carried by Bush in 2004 (44 to 41 percent). But more
> important,
> Hillary Clinton has strengthened electorally -
> defeating the new
> entrant and savior, Fred Thompson, by 8 points (50
> to 42 percent) and
> Rudy Giuliani by 3 points (47 to 44 percent). For
> the first time in
> our polling she runs stronger than Barack Obama,
> lessening the issue
> of electability.
>
> Methodology
>
> These results are based on a bi-partisan survey
> conducted by
> Greenberg Quinlan Rosner in conjunction with Public
> Opinion
> Strategies for National Public Radio. The survey
> fielded October 4, 6
> and 7. It has a sample size of 800 likely voters and
> a margin of
> error of +/-3.5 percent. The survey was fielded by
> Public Opinion
> Strategies.
>
> Key Findings
>
> * General Petraeus has finished his Washington tour,
> but the Iraq
> debates still moves voters to vote Democratic by 12
> points, with 41
> percent ‘strong’ - matching the highest for any
> issue. That advantage
> holds with a robust debate - with the Democrats
> underscoring that
> over 100,000 troops will be trapped in an ‘endless
> religious civil
> war,’ with the ‘cost above ten billion per month.’
>
> * As the mortgage crisis raises concerns about the
> economy, voters
> scorn Republicans’ optimistic assessment of the
> economy and instead
> favor a Democratic message in support of the middle
> class by a
> stunning 33-point margin (63 to 30 percent). The
> economy grows as an
> issue.
>
> * The debate is more even on spending - suggesting
> the need for
> Democrats’ to take concerns about spending and
> government
> accountability seriously.
>
> * The immigration issue is currently playing out
> evenly between the
> parties and the robust debate in this survey
> slightly favors the
> Republicans. Still, the Democratic argument is
> credible - accepting a
> practical path to citizenship - but includes a
> commitment to strong
> enforcement and barring immigrants from getting most
> government
> benefits. But note that 40 percent of Democrats
> favor the
> Republicans’ ‘take no prisoners’ approach.
>
> * "As the battle over the budget begins, the
> evolving debate is
> pushing voters by 18 points to the Democrats on ‘the
> budget and
> budget deficit' and even by 10 points on ‘taxes and
> spending.'"
>
>
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