Approval of Congress is at a new low in 40 years of polling, Americans’ approval of their own representative in Washington is underwater for the first time and a record number of registered voters are inclined to look for someone new in 2014 – all signs of a powerful, palpable public antipathy following the budget spat that shut down much of the government for 16 days. …
Criticism over the shutdown is focused on the Republicans, now at their greatest unpopularity in data since 1984. But the Democrats are damaged too. These and other results indicate severe self-inflicted wounds to Congress as a result of its budget brinksmanship – with Barack Obama, though hardly in stellar shape, largely escaping unscathed. [cont.]
Gary Langer, ABC News