海角大神

It鈥檚 not exactly a stop-the-presses moment, but American voters may be feeling a teensy bit more kindly toward Congress.

That, at least, would be the positive take-away from Gallup鈥檚 latest finding, which has lawmakers鈥� collective approval rating soaring from its all-time low of 9 percent last October to 12 percent in the most recent tally. That鈥檚 a 33 percent increase, people!

The main reason? The time elapsed since last year鈥檚 government shutdown debacle, plus the recent bipartisan OK for raising the debt ceiling, suggests Frank Newport, Gallup鈥檚 editor in chief.

鈥淓lected representatives may be paying attention to the anguished outrage of Americans 鈥� who have been giving Congress the聽lowest approval ratings聽in history, even as they named聽dysfunctional government as the most important problem聽facing the nation,鈥� Mr. Newport wrote this week.

鈥淭his February update came prior to the actual [debt ceiling] votes this past week in Congress, so they were not a proximate cause,鈥� Newport wrote.聽鈥淏ut clearly there has been less posturing, grandstanding, and talk about the need to shut down government in order to call attention to the need to save it.聽Maybe some of that is seeping through to the average American.鈥�

Or maybe not. It also could be that real issues (i.e., problems) 鈥� not just the posturing and grandstanding 鈥� are sinking in deeper.

Forty-three percent, according to Gallup, now see 鈥淯nemployment/Jobs鈥� or 鈥淓conomy in general鈥� as the 鈥渕ost important problem facing the US.鈥� Slipping to third place with 19 percent is 鈥淒issatisfaction with government/Congress/politicians; poor leadership/corruption/abuse of power.鈥�

Gallup鈥檚 congressional job approval figures are in line with the average of eight different polls cited by Real Clear Politics. More dour is the result from a Rasmussen Reports phone survey of likely US voters reported this week: Just 8 percent say Congress is doing a 鈥済ood鈥� or 鈥渆xcellent鈥� job of lawmaking.

鈥淢embers of Congress routinely get reelected, but only eight percent think that is because they do a good job representing their constituents,鈥� Rasmussen noted. 鈥淭wo-thirds believe it鈥檚 because election rules are rigged to benefit incumbents. Twenty-six percent are not sure why Congress members almost always get reelected.鈥�

As if that weren鈥檛 depressing enough, according to this survey, 59 percent of voters believe most members of Congress are willing to sell their vote for cash or campaign contributions, and 56 percent think it鈥檚 at least somewhat likely that their own representative in Congress has sold their vote, including 27 percent who say it鈥檚 very likely.聽

The difference in perception between what Rasmussen calls 鈥渢he political class鈥� and average American voters here is clear: 鈥淪eventy-six percent of Mainstream voters think members of Congress are聽usually聽elected because the election rules are rigged, but just 30 percent of聽the Political Class聽agree. Only 17 percent of Political Class voters think most members are willing to sell their vote, a聽belief held by 68 percent of those in the Mainstream.鈥�

Some of this no doubt is connected to the growing perception that lawmakers really are different than the rest of us 鈥� in a way that could reveal envy as well as suspicion.

The Center for Responsive Politics reported recently that for the first time in history, more than half the members of Congress are millionaires.

鈥淭he median net worth for the 530 current lawmakers who were in Congress as of the May filing deadline was $1,008,767 鈥� an increase from the previous year when it was $966,000,鈥� the nonpartisan center reported. (The wealthiest member of Congress is Rep. Darrell Issa (R) of California, who had a net worth between $330 million and $598 million.)

鈥淚s it good or bad for the country that most members of Congress are this wealthy, or does it have no impact?鈥� voters were asked in the Rasmussen survey. Seventy percent said it鈥檚 bad for the country and just 4 percent said it鈥檚 good.

Which may help explain why Congress鈥檚 approval rating, while it may have ticked up a bit, is still barely out of single digits.