WASHINGTON – Democrats pledged to take Congress in a new direction when it won control in November 2006, but less than six months after taking the reins, Americans aren't pleased with the results, giving lawmakers an all-time low public confidence rating.
In a Gallup poll released Thursday, only 14 percent of Americans have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in Congress, a Gallup poll reports.
The poll shows an all-time lowest confidence rating and one of the lowest ratings for any institution in 30 years. The lowest confidence rating for Congress was 18 percent during 1991 to 1994. In 1994, the House switched from a Democratic to Republican majority after 40 years of one-party rule.
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In the latest poll, the Supreme Court also received an all-time low rating of 34 percent while confidence has been at or above 50 percent over the last few decades.
Americans rank the most confidence in the military, with the least confidence in HMOs and Congress, when asked about 16 societal institutions.
The poll, conducted June 11-14, interviewed 1,007 national adults over the age of 18. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The poll gave the National Republican Senatorial Committee plenty of fodder to complain about congressional Democrats. The NRSC issued a statement saying the poll shows Americans don't like the job Democrats are doing.
"In six months, Democrat congressional leadership has managed to bring it all back to where they began — at the lowest congressional confidence levels in Gallup's history — at least we know Democrats can be successful at something," NRSC spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher said in a statement.
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