US Congress Reaches New Low in Approval, Nobody Cares

[Lemur]

I am fascinated by the ability of our Congress to be wildly unpopular without any consequence. Latest polling:



But of course, the fact that a broad majority of Americans despise Congress has no meaning, no consequence. I get the impression that they could drop to 1% approval without any pressure to change the way they do business.

Why the disconnect?

[PanzerJaeger]

Lots hate 'congress' as an abstract but like their congressman. 'If only there were more people like Michelle Bachmann in Washington, we'd be able to fix this country!', etc.

Sad to see the police rank so highly. Now there's a group that should really be at the bottom of the list.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Approval for big business and the banks is up, while approval for organized labour and small business is down. I don't know if the US has a more positive economic climate than it did a year ago, but this strikes me as a strange reaction.

Meanwhile political institutions like the Presidecy, Supreme Court, and Congress are all down - this is less surprising.

[HopAlongBunny]

Might the problem be structural?

Congress is responsible for soo much stuff that the best choice is often: do nothing. Add to that gerrymandering: representatives have a clear picture of their constituency; coloring outside of very well-defined lines is suicide.
If a politicians chief job is to get re-elected, the best choice is to upset as few carts as possible; maintain support of whatever demographic put you in power; keep steady funding to your "Elect Bert" fund. Tomorrow will be much like today because we know what today looks like and everyone (esp. politicians) hesitate at the edge of the new/unknown.

[TinCow]

Wow, I didn't realize so many people disliked SCOTUS and the medical industry. Widespread discontent certainly doesn't surprise me, but I didn't expect 2/3 to give them a thumbs down.

[Montmorency]

Wow, I didn't realize so many people disliked SCOTUS and the medical industry. Widespread discontent certainly doesn't surprise me, but I didn't expect 2/3 to give them a thumbs down.

Well, hold on. "Some" confidence is at least grudging approval, IMO.

For SCOTUS: 76% at least "some" confidence
For medical system: 73% at least "some" confidence

Then again, perhaps "some" is, like "no opinion", a cop-out answer. And how am I to interpret "confidence" anyway?