Public Remains Angry With Congress

The charts above were made from information in a recent Rasmussen Poll, which was conducted on April 15th and 16th of 1,000 nationwide likely voters (with a margin of error of 3 points).

There is no doubt that there are "safe" seats in Congress for members of both parties, and the members of Congress holding those seats will be re-elected. But there is also no doubt that the voters are still extremely angry with Congress. Note that only 6% of the voters in this survey think the members of Congress are doing a good job, and 82% say that is because those members listen to their party leaders instead of their constituents.

And it gets even worse. Only 14% think this Congress has passed any kind of legislation that will make life better for the people in this country -- and a whopping 70% think it is possible for Congress to get worse!

The Republicans are still trying to convince themselves (and us) that the unpopularity of the president will work to let them retain control of the House of Representatives. I think they are just dreaming. The president's numbers are much better than those of Congress. This election is not a referendum on the president (that happened in 2012), but a referendum on Congress. And if I was a member of Congress in a competitive district, I'd be worried about this pervasive anti-incumbent mood of the voters.

And those who should worry the most, since they hold the majority of seats in this unpopular Congress, are the Republicans. There are about 60 Republicans in competitive seats, and at least 25 of those seats are rated as very competitive. The Democrats only need for the voters to oust 17 of those Republicans to give them control of the House of Representatives.

Take heart Democrats. If you work hard and turn out the vote, this anti-incumbent mood of the voters could work in your favor -- and you could flip the House of Representatives in November. But it won't happen just because we want it to. The teabaggers will turn out to vote (just like they did in 2010), and we must do the same (and get all our friends and neighbors to the polls).