One frustrating aspect of American political life is that most Americans, especially today, loathe U.S. Representatives in general but consistently re-elect their own. Therefore, the “culture in Washington” never actually changes because most Washington lawmakers never experience defeat at the polls.
But that might be changing, at least in the lower chamber. A new Gallup poll finds that the percentage of Americans who say they want to re-elect their own U.S. Representative has hit its lowest peak in 22 years. Time to throw the bums out?
Check out just how much public support for Congressional lawmakers has evaporated in recent years:
I’m looking forward to the 2014 elections. I fully expect the voters to send at least some of these red state lawmakers packing, but it seems public discontent is indeed entrenched and widespread – and not merely because of Obamacare. It’s even par for the course now for established pols to say they’re retiring at the end of their congressional terms because they 'can’t take the gridlock anymore,’ or whatever. Please. I personally don’t buy it; a cursory glance at American history shows that partisanship and gridlock are staples of our system of government and always will be. But if the percentage of those who say "most" members of Congress deserve to be re-elected has really fallen 19 points in two years, maybe something has changed? Perhaps the make-up of the Congress we see after the November elections will look very different from the one holding the reins of power now.
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