For a brief moment in early 2021, not everyone hated Congress, with more than 1 in 3 Americans in Gallup polling saying they actually approved of the job the House and Senate were doing.
It was the briefest of honeymoons, however. Less than a year later, new Gallup numbers show that just 18% of people approve of the job Congress is doing, the lowest that number has been since Joe Biden became President.
Here’s why that’s worrisome for Democrats:
1) Everyone knows – or will know by Election Day 2022 – that Democrats are in control of the House and Senate (not to mention the White House).
2) Democrats have gone from thrilled at how Congress was doing (61% approval in January 2021) to decidedly “meh” (26% approval) in the space of the last year.
“Democrats’ approval of Congress fell as infighting among Democratic legislators held up passage of Biden’s climate change and social spending bill. With Biden’s legislative agenda still stalled, Democrats’ latest 26% approval of the legislative branch is the lowest it has been in a year.”
Here’s what it all means: Not only will the general unhappiness directed toward Congress fall more heavily on the majority party this November, but the fact that the Democrats’ base is something well short of energized suggests they may have trouble getting core supporters to turn out to vote.
The Point: It’s yet another data point to suggest that historical trends – which point to major seat losses in the first midterm election of a president’s tenure – are playing out in 2022 exactly as we would expect. Which is very bad news for Democrats.
