As we’ve seen this week, with polls like that of the AP showing Congress’s approval ratings near the margin of error, Congress is not terribly popular. That inspired me to ask a question: When was it popular? Have there been times when Congress had soaring approval ratings from the public?
To figure this out, I went over to Gallup’s page on Congress and the Public, where it shows the results of its public opinion polls on congressional approval ratings. The polls go back to 1974.
Below, you can see the fifteen times when Congress had a net approval rating of over 20%. I listed them in order of gross approval, rather than net approval.
(1) 11-14 Oct 2001: 84-10 (+74) Oct 7, 2001, War in Afghanistan commences.
(2) 8-11 Nov 2001: 73-19 (+54) Oct 26, 2001, GWB signs Patriot Act.
(3) 6-9 Dec 2001: 72-19 (+53)
(4) 4-7 Mar 2002: 63-28 (+35)
(5) 4-6 Feb 2002: 62-28 (+34)
(6) 7-9 Jan 2002: 62-29 (+33)
(7) 7-9 Apr 2003: 58-33 (+25) March 20, 2003, Iraq War commences.
(8) 6 -9 May 2002: 57-33 (+24)
(9) 8-11 Apr 2002 57-34 (+23)
(10) 13-15 Feb 1998 57-33 (+24)
(11) 2-4 Dec 2001 56-34 (+22)
(12) 30 Jan – 1 Feb 1998 56-35 (+21)
(13) 5-7 Mar 2001 55-28 (+27)
(14) 5-8 Apr 2001 55-32 (+23)
(15) 1-4 Feb 2001 53-32 (+21)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 11 seem to be a post-9/11 honeymoon period for Congress, with the rise of the nationalistic sentiment that followed in the wake of a tragedy and the start of a war. 7, as noted, coincided with the start of the Iraq War.
I’m not sure, though, why Congress was so popular in January/February 1998 and February-April 2001. (I was in elementary school and junior high, respectively).