Approval Ratings For Elected Officials

Much has been made of the recent drop in the president's approval ratings, especially by those on the right -- and it is true that those ratings have dropped recently. According to a new Economist / YouGov Poll (taken between November 23rd and 25th of 1,000 nationwide adults, with a 3.8 point margin of error), the president's approval is now about 37% -- as low as it has ever been.

But I feel it is important to point out that those ratings are still much higher than those of Congress, which currently rests at a miserably low 6%. And while the public is still pretty angry with everyone in Washington, they still blame the Republicans most for the government's inability to get anything done -- particularly the inability to fix the economy. The approval rating for the congressional Republicans is at 24% -- about 13 points lower than the president, and 11 points lower than the congressional Democrats.

And when you look at the demographic breakdown, you can see that is true of almost every group and in every part of the country. Only one group gives the GOP a higher approval than the president and the Democrats, those 65 & over, and even that is by a much lower margin than in the past.