The American people are extremely dissatisfied with the lack of productivity of the current Congress, according to a new survey.
The NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll shows that a whopping 74% of Americans label Congress unproductive, while only 22% believe our lawmakers in Washington to be at all productive. What’s more, 50% even more harshly identified the House and Senate as “very unproductive.”
The poll does have some positive figures for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. Forty-three percent of Americans want the Republican Party to gain control of the House of Representatives and also the Senate, which is slightly more than the 41% who would choose the Democrats to win a majority in the House and Senate.
Perhaps such negative attitudes toward these lawmakers are a result of President Obama’s effort to demonize and scold Congress — and House Republicans in particular — in recent speeches for doing nothing. Of course, his “Congress isn’t working” narrative unwound a bit when House Republicans successfully passed two bills to combat the current immigration crisis at the nation’s border last week.
Obama is also especially angry at House Speaker John Boehner’s plan to file a lawsuit against the president for his abuse of executive power.
While Obama is focusing his criticism on House Republicans, many individuals see the Senate as that which is causing the congressional gridlock. After all, the House has passed around 300 bills — many of which would help put America back to work — only for those bills to get stuck in the Senate under Harry Reid’s watch.
And, it’s vital to note that, while Congress’ ratings are low, President Obama’s are quite dismal as well. As of July 27, Obama’s approval rating was 41%.
