Congress' Approval Rating Lower Than: BP Oil Spill, Lawyers, IRS

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Matt MetznerMatt Metzner
Published: 13 Jul, 2012
1 min read

File this under the oldie but goodie section. Found this graph presented by Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado to the 112th Congress. The Democratic Senator was kind enough to present this to the Republican controlled House. Yes, Congress' approval rating is higher than Castro, but is getting smoked by the IRS, the BP oil spill, and Nixon during watergate.

Congress' approval rating lower than Hugo Chavez

Aside from Congress' approval rating being so low, who knew that lawyers were so high? Just made my morning.

Big congratulations to the IRS topping the charts at 40%!

Glad to see someone in Congress has a sense of humor, but it would be nice to see them get that number up. Passing a few laws and avoiding a 34th vote to repeal Obamacare may help the House.

Another interesting point on the topic of Congress and why they don't work is the cost associated. A CBS anchor was steamed this week when he revealed that the House's efforts to repeal the ACA have cost taxpayers around $50M. The political theater has a hefty price tag considering the impossibility of any law repealing the ACA getting through the Senate.

As much as we like to poke fun at Congress and the poor job they are doing there are multiple reasons for the discontent among the public. Editor-in-Chief Kym Bays posted a recent Washington Post story that gives 14 reasons why this is the worst Congress in history. The numbers presented seem to show that it could be true. Is it time to shift the "do-nothing Congress" tag over to the 112? Probably.

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