Simple question

[Guest Loki]

Let's assume that the current presidential race is, in some ways, a referendum on the Bush administration. Many people are voting on the basis of current dissatisfaction. These are assumptions on my part, but I certainly feel they're accurate.

Now, if that's the case, how is it the Democrats, who have controlled both houses of Congress, and have lower approval ratings than Bush, could possibly be gaining seats? If people are that dissatisfied, wouldn't you vote out as many incumbents as possible?

At the following site, you can examine the approval ratings for both Bush and Congress and decide for yourself. But, the rough average of DISAPPROVAL of the current Congressional representatives is about 75%.

www.pollingreport.com

Don't bother to spin these results, they are merely polls, (looks like all of them), but they do represent the sentiment of those who took the poll. I know polls are inaccurate as the questions, and how they are asked, can influence the answer, but when you take them as a whole its a pretty bad indictment of ALL our current elected officials.

[Guest Paul]

Let's assume that the current presidential race is, in some ways, a referendum on the Bush administration. Many people are voting on the basis of current dissatisfaction. These are assumptions on my part, but I certainly feel they're accurate.

Now, if that's the case, how is it the Democrats, who have controlled both houses of Congress, and have lower approval ratings than Bush, could possibly be gaining seats? If people are that dissatisfied, wouldn't you vote out as many incumbents as possible?

At the following site, you can examine the approval ratings for both Bush and Congress and decide for yourself. But, the rough average of DISAPPROVAL of the current Congressional representatives is about 75%.

www.pollingreport.com

Don't bother to spin these results, they are merely polls, (looks like all of them), but they do represent the sentiment of those who took the poll. I know polls are inaccurate as the questions, and how they are asked, can influence the answer, but when you take them as a whole its a pretty bad indictment of ALL our current elected officials.

Just because you're dissatisfied with Congress doesn't mean you're satisfied with your representative, or that you should be. People may recognize that the Republicans have been controlling policy, even during these past two years. The Democrats haven't been able to accomplish anything because Senate Republicans have filibustered 104 bills. And even if they had passed, Bush would have vetoed any decent legislation. If the people understand that, then giving more seats to the Democrats makes perfect sense. It's the only way any real change will be accomplished.

[A former Kearny resident]

Let's assume that the current presidential race is, in some ways, a referendum on the Bush administration. Many people are voting on the basis of current dissatisfaction. These are assumptions on my part, but I certainly feel they're accurate.

Now, if that's the case, how is it the Democrats, who have controlled both houses of Congress, and have lower approval ratings than Bush, could possibly be gaining seats? If people are that dissatisfied, wouldn't you vote out as many incumbents as possible?

At the following site, you can examine the approval ratings for both Bush and Congress and decide for yourself. But, the rough average of DISAPPROVAL of the current Congressional representatives is about 75%.

www.pollingreport.com

Don't bother to spin these results, they are merely polls, (looks like all of them), but they do represent the sentiment of those who took the poll. I know polls are inaccurate as the questions, and how they are asked, can influence the answer, but when you take them as a whole its a pretty bad indictment of ALL our current elected officials.

I'm still waiting for the democrats to do all that they said they were going to do (to get elected) back in '06!

[Guest Extinguisher]

Let's assume that the current presidential race is, in some ways, a referendum on the Bush administration. Many people are voting on the basis of current dissatisfaction. These are assumptions on my part, but I certainly feel they're accurate.

Now, if that's the case, how is it the Democrats, who have controlled both houses of Congress, and have lower approval ratings than Bush, could possibly be gaining seats? If people are that dissatisfied, wouldn't you vote out as many incumbents as possible?

At the following site, you can examine the approval ratings for both Bush and Congress and decide for yourself. But, the rough average of DISAPPROVAL of the current Congressional representatives is about 75%.

www.pollingreport.com

Don't bother to spin these results, they are merely polls, (looks like all of them), but they do represent the sentiment of those who took the poll. I know polls are inaccurate as the questions, and how they are asked, can influence the answer, but when you take them as a whole its a pretty bad indictment of ALL our current elected officials.

To answer your questions, the majority of the American public sees the Iraq war and the economy as failures of the Republican administration and a Republican Congress. The Democrats have only controlled Congress for 20 months and thus remain the Party of change. That's why the public is voting out as many Republicans as possible and that's why you'll see a record number of first-term members of Congress come January. You conflate the notion of public disapproval of Congress with public disapproval of Republicans. The two overlap, but are not the same. Republicans are still in denial about this.

[Guest Radagast]

Let's assume that the current presidential race is, in some ways, a referendum on the Bush administration. Many people are voting on the basis of current dissatisfaction. These are assumptions on my part, but I certainly feel they're accurate.

Now, if that's the case, how is it the Democrats, who have controlled both houses of Congress, and have lower approval ratings than Bush, could possibly be gaining seats? If people are that dissatisfied, wouldn't you vote out as many incumbents as possible?

At the following site, you can examine the approval ratings for both Bush and Congress and decide for yourself. But, the rough average of DISAPPROVAL of the current Congressional representatives is about 75%.

www.pollingreport.com

Don't bother to spin these results, they are merely polls, (looks like all of them), but they do represent the sentiment of those who took the poll. I know polls are inaccurate as the questions, and how they are asked, can influence the answer, but when you take them as a whole its a pretty bad indictment of ALL our current elected officials.

Loki,

I've seen polls that split the approval ratings between Dems and Reps in Congress and the Dems are about 10 points ahead of Reps. However, they don't get more than 50%. You need to get 60 votes in the Senate to get anything done so little is getting done which is frustrating to everyone.

We'll see what happens after the election but I doubt if the Dems can win enough to get 60.

Remember ... on Election Day ... Vote Early and Vote Often! ooops! I forgot, you're a Republican ... you only get to vote once!

Anyway ... Good Luck tomorrow. Whoever wins will need to be very skillful to get us out of the various messes we are in.... So Good Luck to all of us.

[Guest Guest]

Let's assume that the current presidential race is, in some ways, a referendum on the Bush administration. Many people are voting on the basis of current dissatisfaction. These are assumptions on my part, but I certainly feel they're accurate.

Now, if that's the case, how is it the Democrats, who have controlled both houses of Congress, and have lower approval ratings than Bush, could possibly be gaining seats? If people are that dissatisfied, wouldn't you vote out as many incumbents as possible?

My take is the Reps controlled Congess AND the White House for 6 yrears and did virtually nothing, I'd say many are willing to give the Dems an equal shot.

While I'll vite for Obama as I believe McCain to be much too aligned with Bush, not to mention his inane choice for VP, I'll be voting a split ticket.

[WilliamK]

I've seen polls that split the approval ratings between Dems and Reps in Congress and the Dems are about 10 points ahead of Reps. However, they don't get more than 50%.

I think more interesting than which rates higher is that separately, Reps and Dems both get higher approval ratings than Congress as a whole, and individual Senators and Representatives usually rate higher than their party. Congress is suffering from bad synergy. The whole is less than the sum of its parts.

If the Democrats gain enough to be able to push past at least most Republican opposition, I think it will improve Congresses overall approval rating simply because then at least one party's voters will feel like their interests are being represented, whereas right now, hardly anyone feels that way. But with the country having such hard partisan division, Congress is unlikely to achieve a 50% approval no matter who's in control or what they do. That would require a shift in the views and attitudes of voters, not just a change in Congress.

[Bern]

Loki,

I've seen polls that split the approval ratings between Dems and Reps in Congress and the Dems are about 10 points ahead of Reps. However, they don't get more than 50%. You need to get 60 votes in the Senate to get anything done so little is getting done which is frustrating to everyone.

We'll see what happens after the election but I doubt if the Dems can win enough to get 60.

Remember ... on Election Day ... Vote Early and Vote Often! ooops! I forgot, you're a Republican ... you only get to vote once!

Anyway ... Good Luck tomorrow. Whoever wins will need to be very skillful to get us out of the various messes we are in.... So Good Luck to all of us.

Sixty will help but I'm not so sure if the Democrats will really need 60. Even if the Democrats get 57 to 59, the Republicans will need just about every member to sucessfully filibuster. It will be much harder getting the troops in line because the White House will no longer be cheerleading them.

Their filibustering and obstruction has obviously ruined their election chances. Even though they are stupid, they must have figured out by now that continuing their obstruction will cause them to lose more elections, as they lost in the last two elections.

I think many Republican senators will slither under their rocks. They'll not be making too many waves.

[Bern]

My take is the Reps controlled Congess AND the White House for 6 yrears and did virtually nothing, I'd say many are willing to give the Dems an equal shot.

While I'll vite for Obama as I believe McCain to be much too aligned with Bush, not to mention his inane choice for VP, I'll be voting a split ticket.

If they did nothing we would have been better off.

Instead they've been pushing our country into the gutter with their weird trickle down economic policies, doubling of the national debt, this war, the incompetent response to the New Orleans disaster, the Terri Schiavo silliness and many other things.