Editor's note: This is another in a series of "WND/WENZEL POLLS" conducted exclusively for WND by the public-opinion research and media consulting company Wenzel Strategies.
Millions of Americans – 92 percent of the population – say Congress is failing to reach even the "good" level of job performance – much less excellent – according to a new poll that reveals the extent to which people simply don't approve of what Washington is doing to the nation.
The results are from the newest WND/Wenzel Poll conducted by Wenzel Strategies. The telephone survey was conducted Sept. 23-27 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.91 percentage points.
"It has been years since the American public has had much to be pleased with when it comes to the U.S. Congress, and the newest job approval rating, like President Obama's rating, is at an all-time low, as just 8 percent give it positive marks," Wenzel said.
"The surpasses the previous low of 9 percent approval Congress posted back in 2007 when it was considering granting citizenship amnesty to illegal immigrants," he noted.
The newest poll results reveal that only 3.4 percent of the Democrats, who until 2010 had full control of Congress; 1.3 percent of the Republicans and only 0.6 percent – that's only six out of 1,000 independents – give Congress an excellent rating.
Slightly higher numbers, 5.8 percent for the Democrats, 7.5 percent of the GOP and 4.1 percent for independents, for those who say Congress is doing "good."
Another 21.2 percent of all respondents said Congress is running at an "only fair" performance level, and the remaining – some two in three across the land – say its performance is poor.
Wenzel said it's not that complicated.
"Simply put, Congress has become the government body that Americans love to hate. It gets blamed for everything bad, and seldom wins praise for anything good that happens – which, lately, has been never," he said.
"There simply has been much to hate about what Washington has done to America in recent years," he said.
He cited Obamacare, the president's signature nationalization of health-care decision-making that includes the threat of fines if people don't buy the insurance the government tells them to, and other such requirements. While Obama promoted the measure, it was Congress that rammed it through despite overwhelming opposition from Americans.
"The dynamic at work here is that Congress gets blamed largely for the problems in America, while the president gets blamed for failure to provide leadership. Obama had for years dodged blame for the continuous economic doldrums, sometimes blaming Congress for the problem. Now, as people start to realize he has failed to lead Congress to find a solution, he is getting blamed and is taking a hit for failing to find solutions. But Congress continues to get blamed for not actually acting to pass improvements. The problem for Congress is that, because leadership is split between the parties, with Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans controlling the House, nothing substantive that will help the economy will get done before the next election because both sides fear the other will somehow get credit," Wenzel said.
According to poll results, even 47 percent of those who describe themselves as "very liberal" put Congress' performance in the "poor" category. More than 72 percent of those in the "liberal" column put Congress' performance in that category, as do more than 70 percent of those who are "conservative" and 63 percent of those who are "moderate."
Men and women were nearly alike in their criticism of Congress, and among racial divisions, the condemnation was nearly alike. Vast majorities among whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians said Congress is doing a "poor" job. Perspectives were alike in the different regions of the country, and among age groups.
The approval reached its lowest point among those in the $75,000-$125,000 income bracket, where there was no one – that's 0 percent – who was willing to say that Congress is doing a good job.
"You might say this is the downside to gridlock. Many say gridlock in Washington is good because it prevents Washington from getting in the way of the private sector when times are prosperous, but it is also bad when only a solution from Washington will fix the structural problems in our economy," Wenzel explained.
"That is what we find now. The Pelosi-Reid Congress created, and Obama signed, several new laws, including health care reform, that are keeping the private sector on its back, and only Congress can remove those roadblocks," he said.
"This is not something the private sector can fix – it can only react to the destructive actions taken by Congress. The American public is smart enough to see this, and is registering its frustration with Congress in the form of this record low job approval rating."
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Read the results of the poll question: