Congressional approval rose sharply in the months after President Obama's inauguration, from 19% in January to 31% in February and 39% in March. Approval then began to slip gradually, dipping to 31% by the end of the summer, before falling precipitously in October. Given the current 21% reading, it appears that any "honeymoon" period for the 111th Congress has eroded.
Approval of Congress today is significantly below the average 36% rating found across the past two decades.
The unhappiness with the way Congress is handling it's job is affecting the congressional ballot preferences of registered voters for 2010.
One of the issues that will factor in 2010 is unemployment, which has not only "officially" risen to 9.8 percent, but recent news has shown that the 9.8 figure is perhaps a lowball figure since there are a substantial number of jobs reported that do not even exist.
Congressional Democrats and the Obama White House have plenty to fret about as they eye the 2010 elections: rising deficits, the Afghan war, public fears over expanding government, the fate of the health-care brawl.
But one item may prove key: the national unemployment rate, which hit a 26-year high last month at 9.8%. On that front, economists and political pundits say, the majority party looks increasingly wobbly.
"Unemployment is the leading economic indicator when it comes to politics," said Democratic pollster Peter Hart. "Anytime unemployment hits double digits, it's hard to see the party in control having a good election year."
Economists generally predict that the number of people out of work will continue to inch up next year, even if the economy begins to rebound. Most see the jobless rate peaking at around 10.5% in the summer. Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said Sunday that his own hunch was that the economy would turn around over coming months, but that unemployment would "penetrate the 10% barrier and stay there for a while before we start down."
Republicans are already targeting 49 Democratic seats in districts that John McCain carried in 2008, with the ambitious goal of taking back the House.
Whether they can do it or not remains to be seen, but forecasters are predicting heavy losses for the Democrats, so if the GOP does not take full control, the GOP can and probably will make a large dent in the majority's numbers, making it harder for Pelosi to jam through everything and anything she wants without bipartisan support.
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