How low can Congress go? Well, lower than a cockroach. Really. A nationwide poll last week conducted by Public Policy Polling found Americans had a higher opinion of cockroaches than of Congress.
But the roaches had to scurry. They were more popular than Congress by only 2 percentage points. Close race. Actually within the margin for error.
No contest, however, in many other comparisons. Colonoscopies, root canals, used car salesmen and lice all were selected way ahead of Congress by more than 20 percentage points.
OK, Congress did come out more popular than meth labs, North Korea, gonorrhea and Lindsay Lohan.
While all of this provides a little humor and also stresses the depths of the dislike for Congress, the key finding still was in the traditional question: Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Congress? The percentages:
Favorable -- 9
Unfavorable -- 85
Not sure -- 6
Those percentages are in line with findings in other polls.
And with Congress lower than a roach, it's easy to see why a political figure such as New Jersey's Republican Gov. Chris Christie skyrockets in popularity after excoriating the House Republican majority and Speaker John Boehner for failing to vote to provide assistance to areas devastated by Hurricane Sandy.
"It's why the American people hate Congress," said Christie.
Yes, and blasting Congress is why Christie, already high in polls after working in a bipartisan way with President Obama in the wake of the storm, shot up to an amazing 73 percent job approval rating in his heavily Democratic state.
Christie also has gained popularity nationally in polls and favorable publicity -- on the current cover of Time magazine.
Here's another poll finding no doubt involving views on Congress. Obama shot up to a 56 percent approval rating in the Gallup poll last week, with just 39 percent disapproval. Is this because of great accomplishments of the president since his re-election? Or because he is seen as the good guy fighting the good fight against the bad guys in Congress?
Congress could sink even lower if it forces government shutdowns or does further damage to the nation's credit rating with games of chicken on the debt ceiling. Maybe it would sink enough for Lindsay Lohan to top it in popularity. She trails Congress now by only 4 percentage points.
More significantly, of course, it could help the president climb even higher in approval ratings after having been down so close to possible defeat not so many months ago.
Also, Christie won't be the only Republican to lash out at House Republicans. It's politically profitable.
How can you lose among voters if you are seen as taking on a Congress so uniformly unpopular, lower than a roach?
The Public Policy Polling survey found every grouping in the poll joining in a dismal rating -- Republicans, Democrats, Independents, men, women, all age and racial groups and all on the ideology scale from very liberal to very conservative.
But lower than roaches?
A poll analyst theorized: "Cockroaches are a pretty good reason to call the exterminator but voters might be even more concerned if their homes were infested by members of Congress."
Respondents certainly had different reasons for their dislike of Congress. Some would find it too "tea party." Others, not "tea party" enough.
Some would put more blame on the Republican-controlled House. Others, on the Democratic-controlled Senate. But the wrangling, lack of action on important issues and insistence on going to cliff's edge before kicking the can down the road once more has almost everybody upset.
There were distinct differences in response to some of the comparisons.
Congress came out 3 percentage points less favorable than Washington, D.C., political pundits, largely because both the very liberal and the very conservative respondents went heavily against the pundits. One side likely was thinking of Fox News pundits, the other evaluating those on MSNBC.
While Genghis Khan finished better than Congress, there was a gender gap. He did much better with men than with women.
Colonoscopies were tied with Congress in the 18-29 age group. But all older age groups favored the procedure by wide margins, deciding as the poll analyst theorized that colonoscopies are not terribly pleasant but at least have some redeeming value.
Jack Colwell is a columnist for The Tribune. Write to him in care of The Tribune or by e-mail at jcolwell@comcast.net.
Congress' popularity reaches new low
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