Politics and the Latest Polls

I’m sure it’s no surprise that President Bush’s job approval ratings are the worse they have ever been ringing in the most recent Gallup poll Oct. 3-5, 1008 with a dismal 25% approval rating. That means that over 210 million people in this country don’t like the job he’s doing. President Bush also carries the unique distinction of having the highest disapproval rating of any president in history at 70%. It rivals even that of Richard Nixon right before he resigned in 1974 which was at 66% disapproval rating, there’s your “Mission Accomplished” Bush.

If you think that Congress is doing any better think again. With the Democratic and Republican congressional leaders disapproval rating at 64% and 71% respectively they aren’t faring any better. No wonder they were more concerned about campaigning to save their jobs than solving the economic crisis. Here’s a thought, maybe you guys should have been doing your jobs in the first place rather than staying in session just long enough to give yourselves a pay raise and then adjourning so you could go get in those rounds of golf with the your defense contractor buddies who are making a bundle off the war in Iraq.

It’s no secret that the economy is the number one thing on American’s minds right now. Of course the big news is the $700 billion dollar bailout plan and this is what some polls have to say about that brilliant piece of legislation. A CBS news poll on Oct 3-5, 2008 says that 51% disapprove the bill passed by congress. In the same poll, 52% disapprove of the government giving money to financial institutions. In a CNN poll, 76% oppose the government providing more money to financial institutions beyond the $700 billion should that measure fail.

As final food for thought I think it is high time we revive the Bayh-Celler Amendment. This amendment called for an end to the electoral college process for electing the president and a shift to a direct popular vote system (you know, the way a democracy is suppose to be). This amendment passed the Full House of representatives in 1969 with bi-partisan support with a vote of 339-70. Of course it died in a filibuster by some southern senators and some conservatives form small states whining about how they would lose their political power. I don’t know about you, but if less people live in a certain state shouldn’t they have less influence on politics? After all, isn’t democracy about what the majority wants?