Both sides put their spin on dismal polls for Congress

Lawmakers attribute Congress’s low rankings in the polls to a variety of factors — Iraq, the other party, even President Bush.
But they’re unanimous that it’s not their fault and that it won’t translate into pain at the polls.

“People in those polls don’t like Congress, but they like their member of Congress,” said Jim Matheson (D-Utah). “People don’t like the polarized atmosphere of Congress. I think my constituents know I’m the opposite of that kind of polarized politics.”

{mosads}More liberal members point toward the war in Iraq and to Democrats’ inability to overcome Republican support for keeping troops there.

“That is projecting onto Congress the frustration people have with the war in Iraq,” said freshman Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.).

Matheson is from the reddest of red states and a frequent target for Republicans. Hodes is president of his freshman class, but on the list of the Democrats’ most vulnerable members.

And for them, the numbers are not comforting. A Gallup poll released last week indicated that the percentage of Americans with a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in Congress is at 14 percent. That’s the lowest in Gallup’s history, and the lowest of any of the 16 institutions surveyed in the annual poll.

On top of that is a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll in which 63 percent of those surveyed said Democrats are governing in a “business as usual” manner.

That’s worrisome to Democrats who spoke of fundamental change in November’s election.

“It ought to be a concern,” said Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga).

And it’s encouraging to Republicans, who say that the polls indicate the public is starting to realize that Democrats aren’t delivering on issues like lobbying reform, lower gas prices, immigration, gas prices and earmarks.

 “They made 100 promises on the campaign trail. They’ve kept as many as they intended to keep — none,” said Brian Kennedy, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Republican political operations are hoping to capitalize on those perceptions with a media blitz during the Independence Day break. They’re not putting any money into television time, but they’re developing a Web ad campaign and blasting talking points to Republican leaders to bring home to constituents and talk radio about the “do-nothing Congress.”

“Every Republican campaign committee will be firing on all cylinders,” said Ken Spain of the National Republican Campaign Committee.

But Democrats say that Republicans — from amendment-happy House members to filibustering senators all the way up to a president who’s recently discovered the power to veto — are the reason for the low poll numbers.

“When I explain to people at home how the House works and the Senate works and how vetoes work, light bulbs go off,” Hodes said.

Hodes says House leaders are taking polls and concerns “very seriously.”

One of those leaders, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), said polls are a poor judge of congressional performance as Congress rarely, if ever, has an approval rating higher than 50 percent.

“If 70 percent of the public thinks we’re headed in the wrong direction, people aren’t going to be happy with any one institution,” said Emanuel, who ran the Democrats’ campaign to win the House majority last year.

He points to a Democracy Corps poll that surveyed 1,600 voters in 70 swing districts and found that, on average, Democrats hold an 8 or 9 percentage point lead in districts that supported Republican candidates or Bush in previous elections.

“That means the center of the battlefield has shifted as much since 2006 as it did in the lead-up to it,” an analysis of the poll said.

Republican Rep. Tom Reynolds (N.Y.), who headed up the GOP’s election efforts in the last cycle, disagreed that those
numbers mean anything for 2008.

But he sees the distant shape of an anti-incumbent wave that has just as much risk for Republicans as Democrats.

“The current numbers are anti-incumbent. My Republican colleagues shouldn’t take too much comfort in these numbers.
They’re mad at the current Congress, not just Democrats,” he said.

Freshman Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) says he thinks Democrats failed to communicate well with the public on the issue of pork and earmarks. But he also sees cause for hope.

“The silver lining is that people expected a lot. On Nov. 8, I think people thought the troops would be flying home and these investigations will be in full swing.”    

Other Democrats say their party will be able to turn things around, and it will just take time.

“We raised the minimum wage, and people who today aren’t even aware of it will be seeing a raise,” said Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas). “I think by the end of this year, the country will see we’ve turned this Congress in the right direction.”

Jackie Kucinich contributed to this report.