Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Last Call

Still wondering why Republicans think they "won" the debt ceiling crisis, especially given their new dismal numbers.

TPM has been reporting for weeks about the effect of the debt debate on individual political leaders and the subsequently low ratings of Congress. But new data from a CNN poll shows that there's been a difference in the minds of many Americans: the Democratic Party is getting a split on approval/disapproval at 47 - 47, but the Republican Party disapproval rating is all the way up to 59%, against a 33% approval.

The GOP approval rating has been going down in the CNN poll since their 2010 victories: in the October 27-30 version, the Republican Party had a small plurality in approval, at 44 - 43. But since last fall's election they've seen a steady downward trend in the survey, to the current low, which is the highest disapproval rating in the CNN poll in the last twenty years.

Democrats, breaking even.  Republicans, negative 26 on the favorability ratings.  The crosstabs on the poll are even more dismal for the GOP.  Tea Party has 31% favorable, 51% unfavorable numbers. Only 45% of registered voters say their particular Congressman deserves to be re-elected, less than this time last year by six points and ten points lower than October 2008, and 15 points lower than October 2006.

If I'm a Republican in the House, I'd be pissing in my boots right now.  These are horrifying numbers for incumbents in Congress.

We'll see how they hold up, but this finally may be one of those crazy ass elections where everyone gets thrown out, or as much as that's possible given the 85% re-election rate of incumbents.

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