Voters give higher marks to Congress

Voters show more faith in Congress today than they ever did during the Obama administration.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 25 percent of Likely U.S. Voters think Congress is doing a good or excellent job. That’s up significantly from 11 percent in July and the most confidence voters have shown in Congress since 2007.

Just 49 percent now think Congress is doing a poor job, down from 57 percent in July and the lowest level of pessimism since March 2011.

Prior to this survey, the number who gave Congress positive marks hadn’t broken the 20 percent mark since May of 2009.

When the last new Republican-led Congress arrived in January of 2015, positive reviews inched up to double digits for the first time in over two years and hit a recent high of 16 percent the following month. The percentage of voters giving the legislators poor marks dropped into the 50s during the early months of 2015 after generally running in the 60s and 70s since mid-2011.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on Feb. 23-24 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.

Just weeks into the new Congress, Republicans are a lot less critical of their congressional representatives, while Democrats are less enthusiastic about theirs.

Last July, just 12 percent of both Republicans and Democrats gave the Congress positive marks. Now 43 percent of GOP voters rate Congress’ performance as good or excellent, compared to only 16 percent of Democrats. Among unaffiliated voters, positives are up only slightly from 10 percent last year to 16 percent now.

Voters under 40 are much less critical of the new Congress than their elders are. Seventy-four percent of black voters think Congress is doing a poor job, compared to 43 percent of white voters and 54 percent of other minorities.

Lower-income voters are more critical of Congress than those who earn more.

Forty-five percent of voters who Strongly Approve of the job President Trump is doing think Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Eighty percent of those who Strongly Disapprove of the president’s job performance rate Congress’s performance as poor.

At the first of the year, Republicans were more likely to identify with soon-to-be-President Trump than with the GOP Congress.

Voters aren’t sure if the new Congress will be an improvement on the last one, but most want it to cooperate with Trump as much as possible.

Prior to Trump’s inauguration, voters were evenly divided over whether or not Trump and the new Republican-controlled Congress can work together to do what’s best for the American people.

Most voters still agree the federal government should only do the things Congress and the president agree on.

More voters than ever (74 percent) agree with Trump’s call for term limits for all members of Congress.

Tracking poll — The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 52 percent of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Forty-eight percent disapprove.

The latest figures include 37 percent who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 38 percent who Strongly Disapprove.

The president laid out his agenda in a generally well-received speech last Tuesday night to Congress, but most voters don’t want Congress to rush. They want the legislators instead to take the time to decide which of Trump’s proposals they think are best for the country.

It’s interesting to note, however, that Republican voters are more likely to identify with Trump than with the GOP Congress.