Skip to content
Subscribe

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

Published:

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.

Adhere to the IVN etiquette

By posting a comment, you agree to adhere to our etiquette rules: No partisan attacks, no personal attacks, substantiate your sources, no self-promotion.

Contact IVN

Questions about this article or our coverage? Send us a message. A free IVN member account is required.

Message sent

Thanks, we’ll review it and get back to you if needed.

Message not sent

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.

Sign in to send a message

Messages are tied to your IVN member account. Signing in is free and takes a few seconds.

Contact IVN

Questions about this article or our coverage? Send us a message. A free IVN member account is required.

Message sent

Thanks, we’ll review it and get back to you if needed.

Message not sent

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again.

Sign in to send a message

Messages are tied to your IVN member account. Signing in is free and takes a few seconds.

Republish this article

Republishing guidelines

Republish IVN articles for free. Independent Voter News articles may be republished online or in print under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, on these terms:

  1. Credit the author and IVN. Keep the byline ("By Author Name, Independent Voter News") and the attribution note at the end, which links to the original.
  2. Keep the meaning. You may update time and place references and apply your house style. You may trim for length, as long as the cuts don't change the meaning or misrepresent the author. Keep the headline. Mark any additions as your own (for example "Additional reporting by ...").
  3. Translations are welcome. Translate faithfully, add "Translated from English by [your outlet]", and tell us at editor@ivn.us.
  4. Keep the links, including the link to the original article.
  5. Keep the tracking image. The HTML includes a 1-pixel image that counts readers on your page. It collects no personal information.
  6. Photos and illustrations. Images credited to IVN may be used with this article only. Images credited to others (AP, Getty, Unsplash, Wikimedia and so on) stay under their owners' terms. Secure the rights or switch "Include images" off.
  7. Don't sell it. You can't sell our articles or sell ads specifically against them. Your normal site advertising is fine.
  8. No implied endorsement. Don't suggest that IVN or the author endorses you, your candidates or your causes, or that donations to you support IVN.
  9. Keep labels. Opinion or analysis pieces keep that label.
  10. Point search engines to the original. Where your CMS allows, set the canonical URL to the original IVN article.
  11. No bulk or automated republishing, and don't submit our articles to aggregators (Apple News, Google News, MSN) as your own.
  12. Corrections and removals. Update your copy when we correct it, and remove it promptly if we ask. We'll contact you at the email you give us.
  13. Questions or print republication: editor@ivn.us.

IVN staff: fill in who you're inviting above, then create the invite.

Preparing the article

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

Choose a format
  • HTML
  • Email HTML
  • Markdown
  • Formatted (.docx)
  • Plain text
  • WordPress blocks
  • PDF
Choose a platform

Photos credited to others need their owners' permission.

To for

Republishing somewhere else? Questions? editor@ivn.us