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Congress: Less popular than a root canal
Just how despised is Congress these days? Well Public Policy Polling decided to poll it against some of the most hated things in the world and the results are not pretty. Here are just five things that Americans have a higher opinion than Congress:
- Lice – By an impressive 67 percent to 19 percent margin, people have a higher opinion of the little biting bugs.
- Cockroaches – While they don’t do as well as lice, even cockroaches beat Congress 45/41.
- Traffic jams – Being struck in traffics easily beats Congress 56/36.
- Root canals – Even though they are unpleasant they at least serve a function so they beat Congress 56/32
- Colonoscopies – Getting a camera shoved up your butt easily does better than Congress. You at least get drugs before a colonoscopy, 58/31
Members of Congress can take some solace in knowing that there are a few things they still beat. A slim majority of Americans still view Congress higher than Lindsay Lohan by a margin of 45 to 41 and Congress is easily seen as better than STDs.
Even if you don’t believe PPP numbers, there is no doubt Americans have a shockingly negative view of Congress.
While this poll is funny, it is a symptom of an extremely serious problem. A democratic institution should never become this horribly unpopular. Legislative bodies that are this unpopular should definitely not have over 90 percent of incumbents being re-elected. There is something deeply wrong when so many people are unhappy with their government, yet less than 10 percent of House seats can even potentially swing.
There is something very wrong with how Congress is run, how campaigns are financed, how seats are allocated, and how we vote if Congress can be viewed as worse than cockroaches yet remain nearly unchanged after an election. The headline is funny but the serious rot that precipitated it is profoundly depressing.
Photo by kmroddy under Creative Commons license
6 Comments
Well that’s kind of amusing, but then again, not so much.
At the end of the day, though, why should anyone in Congress give a rat’s ass – probably another item that is waaaay more popular than Congress – what the hoipoloi serfs think of them??? We. Don’t. Matter. To. Them.
All they gotta do is shuck ‘n jive for the corporate masters and et voila! Lotsa sweet sweet payola come$ their way.
Constituents? We don’t come into the picture for Congress. That’s for damn sure.
I wonder how the rate against the diarrhea that is the major part of a C. difficile infection or getting sprayed by a skunk.
LOL
It seems the only way to even change a candidate via primaries is through gerrymandering, which seems to favor the more conservative candidate. Not nearly enough people will consider a third party candidate, because they’re too afraid of the alternative big party candidate winning. Fear is keeping Americans in line.
“It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see…”
“You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?”
“No,” said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, “nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people.”
“Odd,” said Arthur, “I thought you said it was a democracy.”
“I did,” said ford. “It is.”
“So,” said Arthur, hoping he wasn’t sounding ridiculously obtuse, “why don’t the people get rid of the lizards?”
“It honestly doesn’t occur to them,” said Ford. “They’ve all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they’ve voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.”
“You mean they actually vote for the lizards?”
“Oh yes,” said Ford with a shrug, “of course.”
“But,” said Arthur, going for the big one again, “why?”
“Because if they didn’t vote for a lizard,” said Ford, “the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?”
“What?”
“I said,” said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, “have you got any gin?”
“I’ll look. Tell me about the lizards.”
Ford shrugged again.
“Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happened to them,” he said. “They’re completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone’s got to say it.”
The 9% were living under bridges.
Yet, Obama got over 50% of the vote.
I’d take Sanders and a few of the more liberal Reps over him any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Supposedly, while everyone hates Congress, everyone loves his or her Congressional Rep.
I never hated Congress, at least not any more than any other politicians. I did love my own Rep, though. As much as one loves a Rep, that is. I had no personal relationship with him. Then the Republicans redistricted.
Sigh.