Weigel

CNN Poll: Voters Hated Watching This Deal Happen

Who wants to be totally unsurprised by a poll result? It’s your lucky day. CNN’s survey finds the approval of Congress falling from 26 percent in January, when the GOP took over the House, to 14 percent today. Eighty-four percent of voters disapprove of Congress. It’s the lowest approval number in 40 years of Gallup polling, and it’s the first result below 20 percent since 1992. Everybody hates something, except the most conservative voters. Sixty percent of voters say they wanted the deal to include tax hikes; the people most happy that it didn’t are Tea Partiers, whose satisfaction with the lack of taxes is at 75 percent. Throughout the poll there are items that suggest Republicans won the showdown, nothing as clearly as the nine-point gap – 43 percent to 34 percent – on voters giving Republicans more credit for the deal than Obama and the Democrats. That is mixed news, because most voters, generally, dislike the deal. But look at this result: Screen shot 2011-08-02 at 11.23.17 AM “The elected officials in Washington.” More voters think Republicans precipitated the crisis than think the president did. But they are covering it all with the gauze of “Washington.” As time goes on, and the deal fails to be the most successful legislative accomplishment in American history,* the gauze will get thicker.
*I’m guessing.