BY GARY ANDRES
Reprinted from the Weekly Standard
Congress has a black eye, and it’s starting to swell. As an institution, its approval ratings bounce near all time lows, creating a crisis in confidence among voters. Can Americans count on an institution so anemic in trust to heal the difficult and major problems confronting the nation?
Many believe the legislative branch is insular, arrogant, and dominated by special interests — and not without cause.
The current Democratic majority’s polarizing behavior has only reinforced these views by passing partisan and controversial legislation — like the health care bill — opposed by a majority of Americans, according to the most recent average of polls aggregated at Real Clear Politics.
The House and Senate will never win popularity contests. Congress underperforms other institutions when it comes to stirring good feelings. Analyzing polling data from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, political scientists John R. Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse in their book Congress as Public Enemy: Public Attitudes Toward American Political Institutions show the legislature nearly always lags the presidency and the Supreme Court when it comes to public confidence.
This pattern continues today. President Obama’s approval now hovers around the 48 percent mark, but Congress’s is only half that (23 percent), according to Real Clear Politics.