Disapproval of Congress rose to an all-time high after weeks of rancorous partisan battles over raising the US debt ceiling took the Nation to the brink of default, according a New York Times/CBS News public opinion poll published Thursday.
A record 82% of Americans say they disapprove of the way Congress is doing its job, compared with 14% who approve, the poll found.
The disapproval rating for Congress was the highest in the 34 yrs the question has been asked in the poll and up from the previous high of 77% set in May 2010.
72% of the poll respondents disapproved of the way Republicans in Congress handled the debt ceiling negotiations, while 60% disapproved of the way Congressional Democrats acted to resolve the crisis.
50% of those polled said the debt ceiling agreement should have included increased tax revenue, which Republicans fought, as well as spending cuts, 44% said the agreement should have relied on spending cuts alone.
An overwhelming majority, 82%, said the debt ceiling fight was more about gaining political advantage than doing what is best for the Country.
More than 50% said they think Republicans compromised too little while 34% said President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress did not compromise enough.
The responders were more evenly divided over how Obama handled the negotiations, with 47% disapproving and 46% approval. Mr. Obama’s overall job approval rating remained steady at 48%.
The nationwide telephone poll of 960 adults was conducted August 2 and 3 among 960 adults throughout the United States and has a sampling error or plus or minus 3 percentage pts.
Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr.