Congressional Approval Remains High

Although a plurality of voters think Congress is doing a poor job, overall satisfaction with the national legislature remains near its record high.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 25% of Likely U.S. voters rate Congress’ performance as good or excellent, down from an all-time high of 28% in March. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

Forty-four percent (44%) think Congress is doing a poor job, up from 39% in March. In April 2022, before the midterm elections, a majority (53%) of voters rated Congress as doing a poor job.

Thirty-five percent (35%) believe their representative in Congress is the best possible person for the job, down from 40% in March, which was the highest in the history of surveying on this question. Forty-three percent (43%) of voters now say their representative in Congress is not the best possible person for the job, and 22% are not sure.

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The survey of 1,020 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on August 24 and 27-28, 2023 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.

Forty-five percent (45%) of voters say that, regardless of how Congress is doing overall, their local representative in Congress deserves to be reelected – up from 39% in April 2022. Thirty-five percent (35%) now say their representative doesn’t deserve reelection. Twenty percent (20%) are not sure.

More Democrats (52%) than Republicans (46%) believe their local congressional representative deserves reelection. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, just 35% think their representative deserves to be reelected, and 47% say they don’t.

Forty-four percent (44%) of Democrats, 34% of Republicans and 26% of unaffiliated voters believe their representative in Congress is the best possible person for the job.

Forty percent (40%) of Democrats, 24% of Republicans and 10% of unaffiliated voters rate the performance of Congress as good or excellent. Forty-four percent (44%) of Republicans, 32% of Democrats and 57% of unaffiliated voters give Congress a poor rating.

Men are more likely than women voters to have strong opinions about how Congress is doing. Twice as many men (17%) as women voters (8%) give Congress an excellent rating, but men are also somewhat more likely to rate the performance of Congress as poor.

Voters under 40 are far more likely than their elders to rate Congress as doing a good or excellent job. A majority (53%) of voters 65 and older give Congress a poor rating.

Twenty-four percent (24%) of whites, 26% of black voters and 25% of other minorities give a good or excellent rating to congressional job performance. Whites are slightly more likely to believe their local member of Congress is the best person for the job and deserves to be reelected.

Breaking down the electorate by income categories, 63% of voters in the highest bracket – earning more than $200,000 a year – rate Congress as doing a good or excellent job, an opinion shared by only 16% of those with annual incomes between $30,000 and $50,000.

President Joe Biden’s strongest supporters have the highest regard for Congress. Among voters who Strongly Approve of Biden’s job performance as president, 32% rate Congress as doing an excellent job and 65% think their local congressional representative deserves reelection. By contrast, among those who Strongly Disapprove of Biden’s performance, just four percent (4%) give Congress an excellent rating and 35% think their local Congress member deserves to be reelected.

A majority of voters believe economic conditions have worsened under President Joe Biden.

Former President Donald Trump skipped the first debate among candidates for the 2024 Republican nomination, but half of Republican voters say he should be in the next debate.

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

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