Congressional and Individual Opinion

Congress and Congress Members

            In this article, by Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight, describe how statistics show that people dislike Congress as a whole, but everyone likes their own representatives for Congress. Many statistics show that the approval rating for members of Congress and Congress as a whole have a direct correlation. This means they rise or drop in numbers at the same rate, more or less. Although, there is a percentage threshold in favor of the individual members. This means, that 15 - 25% more Americans believe in the members of Congress rather than Congress as a whole. The article also explains that the low approval ratings in Congress will hinder the Republicans who were expecting a boost in approval ratings because of Obama's poor rating. But since their own rating is so low, it will not be as effective against Obama had the Republicans been . Congress has done things to cause their approval rating to be low, meaning the rates are fairly justifiable.
      Fairly close to the time that this article came out, Congress chose to shut down the government. During my simulation of congress, we were able to pass many laws which appealed to many different demographics. It might anger some people, but since we were being effective in our office, they could not be as angry at us as they could with a congress which passes no legislation. The ineffectiveness of Congress has cause people to feel disdain towards them.
Link: Disliking Congress, as a Whole And as Individuals