The FINANCIAL — Americans continue to have low opinions of Congress. What’s more, many Americans – particularly independents – seem to be pessimistic that the Senate and the House of Representatives can better address the country’s problems the next time around. Last month 8% of Americans gave Congress positive ratings and this month 7% do so, while 93% of Americans give them negative marks on the overall job they are doing, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
While Americans across political affiliations are disinclined to give Congress positive ratings, it’s Independents who are least likely to rate them positively: only 4% of Independents give Congress positive ratings, compared to 7% of Republicans and 10% of Democrats.
Of course, Senators and Representatives don’t need to please the whole country – just their constituents. On that score though, only 18% of Americans give a positive rating for the overall job their member of the House of Representatives is doing, down from 22% in June. Independents are again the least enthused, with only 13% rating their Representative positively, compared to 20% of Democrats and 22% of Republicans, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
Middling midterm expectations
Oddsmakers are hard at work laying out the likelihoods of possible outcomes for the midterm Congressional elections; currently the statistical edge is being given to the Republicans to hold the House and take the Senate, but a lot can happen in six weeks. So what would be best for the country, both overall and for moving forward on specific issues? Americans don’t seem to think “ownership” of the Senate and the House is likely to change much of anything. When asked which possible outcome (Republicans or Democrats sweeping both halls, holding as they are or making an even swap of it) would be best for progress in the state of the country in general and for an extensive set of issues, pluralities say that it makes no difference for most of the issues tested. What’s more, among Independents this is the top response across all issues, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
Some examples where “makes no difference” led responses for both Americans overall and Independents specifically include:
Political corruption (43% Americans, 51% Independents).
Race relations (35% and 42%, respectively).
Crime (34% and 40%, respectively).
Congressional gridlock (32% and 37%, respectively).
But of course some Americans do believe it makes a difference who holds Congressional power, and some differences are apparent as to which party is seen as best suited to deal with certain issues. Looking specifically at selections of either the Republican or Democratic parties sweeping, and thus holding both halls of Congress:
Americans overall are more likely to select a Republican party sweep as the outcome most likely to lead to progress for crime-related issues, with 21% of Americans selecting a Republican sweep as the best option and 14% selecting a Democratic sweep.
Both U.S. adults overall and Independents specifically are more likely to choose a Republican sweep as the option most likely to lead to progress for conflicts in both the Middle East (Americans: 28% Rep sweep vs. 15% Dem sweep / Independents: 24% vs. 12%, respectively) and Eastern Europe (Americans: 25% Rep sweep vs. 14% Dem sweep / Independents: 22% vs. 9%, respectively).
As to what issues a Democratic sweep is seen as best for, both Americans as a whole and Independents specifically are more likely to choose this outcome as most likely to lead to progress for income inequality (Americans: 29% Dem sweep vs. 17% Rep sweep / Independents: 27% vs. 12%, respectively) and race relations (Americans: 24% Dem sweep vs. 14% Rep sweep / Independents: 21% vs. 9%, respectively).
Independents are also more likely to select a Democratic sweep as the outcome most likely to lead to progress in education, with 24% of Independents selecting a Democratic sweep as the best option and 13% selecting a Republican sweep.
Expertise is expected on Congressional committees
However the elections net out, one of the first tasks awaiting an incoming congress is parsing out appointments to specific committees and subcommittees on a wide variety of subjects. Given that many of these bodies wield no small amount of power, appointments are considered carefully – but how important is actual subject matter when it comes to getting a seat at one of these tables? And how important do Americans think it should be?
Strong majorities of Americans see it as somewhat or very important that appointees have either experience or some other form of expertise on the committee’s topical focus, according to an August Harris Poll. Looking specifically as the perception of experience or expertise being very important, the top area where a command of the subject matter is valued seems to be intelligence (with 73% of Americans rating it very important), followed by foreign affairs (69%), financial services (68%), education (68%) and armed forces (66%).
Health/nutrition and science are the areas where Americans are most willing to flex on this, though it’s worth noting that half still rate it very important that appointed have subject matter expertise for these fields (49% for health/nutrition, 52% for science). For committees related to the environment, 57% of Americans see experience or expertise as very important, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
Discussion about this post