Basement Of The Division

Congress has hit a new low in the latest WaPo/ABC poll, and there's still 13 months for them to find new and awesome mathematical ways to get worse.

Whether Republican, Democrat or independent, more Americans disapprove of Congress than at any point in more than two decades of Washington Post-ABC News polling.

Just 14 percent of the public approves of the job Congress is doing, according to the latest poll. That is lower than just before the 1994, 2006 and 2010 elections, when the majority party was on the verge of losing power in the House.

For most it’s not just a casual dislike of Congress: Sixty-two percent say they “strongly disapprove” of congressional job performance. An additional 20 percent “somewhat” disapprove.

Only 3 percent of Americans said they “strongly approve” of the performance of lawmakers on Capitol Hill — essentially as low as possible, given the poll’s margin of error of four percentage points.

With Democrats running the Senate and Republicans in charge of the House, no group of voters is pleased. Just 18 percent of Democrats, 13 percent of independents and 13 percent of Republicans approve of Congress.

Looking at the crosstabs is a bit more revealing than "People hate Congress" (although that's apparently completely true.)   Republicans in Congress get a 20% approval rating on the economy, 15 points under President Obama, and the President is more trusted on job creation, 49-34%.  When asked if POTUS and the GOP care more protecting the economic interests of middle-class Americans or wealthy Americans, 52% say the President cares more about the middle class to the GOP's 32%.  Meanwhile, a whopping 70% think the GOP cares more about protecting the wealthy to Obama's 17%.

Of the 79% of Americans unhappy with our political system, 39% blame the GOP, 25% President Obama, and 27% blame both.

On the President's jobs plan, 52% approve of it, 58% believe it will improve the jobs situation in the US if it passes.

As far as the Clown Car goes, the interesting stuff is near the bottom: Republican voters say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate if they thought schools should teach creationism/intelligent design (34-31%), wanted to repeal the health care law (67-15%),  and supported banning same-sex marriage (38-27%).  They would be less likely to vote for a candidate that sees global warming as an issue (27-36%) but the real shocker is that they'd be far less likely to vote for a candidate that wanted to extend unemployment benefits right now (25-46%).

So yes, Americans want to see the American Jobs Act passe,. but Republican voters will punish any Republican that extends unemployment benefits right now (which the AJA would do.)

Until they're convinced that they will be punished more for not supporting the jobs bill, I doubt they will budge an inch. You can give Republicans where you live a Twitter nudge with the Tweet For Jobs page on the Obama '12 site.

Unless you think doing nothing about the jobs situation in this country is okay, that is.