Support for Congress can get worse after all

By Steve Benen

It seems there are quite a few headlines today about President Obama's approval rating slipping, and while it's obvious his support dipped a bit from its post-inaugural highs, the president is still in decent shape. The new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll has Obama's overall approval at 45%, though Gallup has him at 46%, and the latest ABC/Washington Post poll has the president at 49%. These aren't great numbers, but they're not necessarily evidence of a systemic problem, either.

That said, if the political world is interested in an institution with weak public standing, I might recommend the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.



The new NBC/WSJ results show Congress' approval rating at 12%, with 83% disapproving. When was the last time support for Congress was this awful? NBC/WSJ have been doing national polls for about two decades, and it's never been this bad...this number could get considerably worse if congressional Republicans kill immigration reform, force a debt ceiling crisis, and threaten a government shutdown.

Indeed, the closer one looks at the poll, the worse things appear for the legislative branch. Obama's personal favorability is 48%, while for House Speaker John Boehner, it's 18%. Only 22% believe congressional Republicans emphasize unifying the country, while 67% believe they prioritize partisanship. A 56% majority believe GOP lawmakers are "too inflexible" when dealing with the White House.

And a 51% majority wants Republicans to stop holding votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

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http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/07/24/19660914-support-for-congress-can-get-worse-after-all