Americans are not happy with President Obama’s job performance and they are especially disappointed with the way Congress is conducting itself, according to a new poll out today.
The new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that only 83 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, which is an all-time low for this poll. It also showed that almost six-in-10 voters would like to throw all current members of Congress out if they could, which is another all-time high.
USA Today notes that the president’s approval rating is at 45 percent in the poll, just a point above the previous all-time low set in August 2011. At that time, the president and Washington were embroiled in the debt-ceiling standoff.
While there is bipartisan disappointment with the federal government, Republicans, Democrats and Independents all differ on their reasons. Republicans lay the blame all on the president, while Democrats and Independents say that Congress is to blame because it isn’t getting anything done.
Interestingly, 56 percent of those polled say that Republicans in Congress aren’t being flexible with the president, while a plurality of Republicans said that they are giving into the president too easily.
Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart told NBC, “There is a palpable unhappiness with Washington. Outside the Beltway, voters are saying, ‘You don't get it.’”
Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who worked with Hart on the poll, said of Republican respondents, “In their mind, Republicans have been too quick to give in to Obama. For the average Republican House member, he or she is more likely to be concerned about a primary than general election.”
You can read further results from the poll here.
image: Wikimedia Commons
