Most Aren’t Prepared to Reelect Their Local Member of Congress

Voters remain skeptical of the job Congress is doing, with one-out-of-three pleased with the congressional representation they have.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that only 18% of Likely U.S. Voters rate the way Congress is doing its job as good or excellent. Fifty-one percent (51%) say it’s doing a poor job. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

These findings have changed little over the past year. Congress’ positives hit a recent high of 24% in October 2018. Poor findings routinely ran in the 60s and 70s from 2011 through 2014.

Thirty-three percent (33%) now believe their representative in Congress is the best possible person for the job, continuing the more positive assessment voters have had in recent years. Forty-two percent (42%) still disagree, while 26% are not sure.

Similarly, 35% of voters think their local representative in Congress deserves to be reelected. Forty-two percent (42%) don’t share that view. Twenty-three percent (23%) are undecided. These views are consistent with findings over the last five years.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted July 27-28, 2020 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Voters continue to see Democrats in Congress as more liberal than they are and congressional Republicans as more conservative.

The congressional performance question is one of the rare ones where there is little partisan disagreement when it comes to Congress’ positives. But Republicans (57%) are more likely than Democrats (44%) and voters not affiliated with either major party (51%) to give Congress poor marks.

Unaffiliateds are the most critical of their local congressional representatives and much less convinced they deserve reelection.

The older the voter, the more critical they are of the job Congress is doing. But those under 40 are the least supportive of reelecting their local representatives.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of whites think Congress is doing a poor job, compared to just 36% of blacks and 46% of other minority voters.

In surveying earlier this year prior to the coronavirus lockdown and the racial rioting in some major cities, most Republicans were happy with the job their representatives in Congress were doing - for the first time in years.

Most voters agree with Congress’ attempt to fashion another coronavirus stimulus package. But they worry that the plan will be loaded with unnecessary goodies because most in Congress are motivated more by political gain than by what people really need.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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