June 13, 2013, 2:31 PM
Chalk up a very dubious distinction for Congress: Americans’ confidence in the institution has fallen to its lowest level ever.
That’s according to Gallup on Thursday, in
a new poll ranking the combined House and Senate dead last on a list of societal institutions for the fourth year in a row.
Confidence in the legislative branch is at just 10%, down three percentage points from last year’s poll, Gallup said.
According to the polling organization: “The divided Congress, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans the House, is likely part of the reason for the low levels of confidence rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans express, and is tied to Americans frustrations with Congress’ inability to get much done.”
A further factor that may be a wake-up call for legislators: the 10% level is not only the lowest on record for Congress, but for any institution. Gallup ranked 16 organizations in its newest poll. The military drew the most confidence from Americans, rising one percentage point to 76%.
The coming few months will be telling about whether Congress will be able to do anything to affect its negative rating. A major
immigration overhaul backed by business and labor groups is being debated; lawmakers face a deadline for raising the
U.S. debt ceiling; and comprehensive tax-reform bills may or may not make some headway.
In any case, Congress has a long climb back to the 41% confidence seen in the mid-1980s, or the 42% high point recorded by Gallup in 1973.
– Robert Schroeder
本站僅提供存儲服務(wù)，所有內(nèi)容均由用戶發(fā)布，如發(fā)現(xiàn)有害或侵權(quán)內(nèi)容，請
點(diǎn)擊舉報。
