From the USA Today:
The poll of 1,000 adults Friday through Sunday has an error margin of +/-3 percentage points.
Among the findings:
• Americans are interested in the election at levels not usually seen in non-presidential years. More than a third have thought “quite a lot” about the congressional elections. Seven of 10 say they are very motivated to get out and vote this year.
• Democrats are particularly engaged: 56% say they are “more enthusiastic about voting than usual,” the highest level recorded since the question was first asked in 1994. Among Republicans, 43% say they are more enthusiastic than usual.
• Americans are increasingly likely to identify themselves as Democrats. Including those who “lean” to one party or the other, 55% call themselves Democrats; 38%, Republicans. That’s the biggest edge for Democrats since 1998. By 54%-38%, the registered voters surveyed say they’d vote for a Democratic congressional candidate over a Republican one if the election were held today.
• That said, voters aren’t particularly enamored of Democratic officeholders. Congressional Democrats have an approval rating of just 38%, 1 percentage point above Bush and 5 points above congressional Republicans.
• Democrats are preferred by double digits to Republicans on four of the five top-ranked issues: Iraq, government corruption, the economy and health care. Republicans are preferred by 11 percentage points on handling terrorism.
• Only 39% say most members of Congress deserve re-election, but 61% say their own representative does. That disparity is common and no guarantee to incumbents. The numbers were similar in July 1994, the year Democrats lost 54 House seats. Then, 60% said their representative deserved re-election; 41% said most members did.
Are you happy with your Congressperson? If not, who is running against them? Do they deserve our support?
This shows why Lamont is doing so well against the, umm, incumbent. As to my congresscritter, she, Sue Kelly, is a Republican tool < gasp > of long standing. John Hall, former bandmember of Orleans, is running against her. I believe that he is worth supporting.
My congressperson, Bob Brady, is completely worthless, but hopelessly entrenched. He may have a few opponents, but they won’t draw more than a few percentage points each. Your question made me think about all of the people that represent me in city, state and national government and every single one of them is contemptible, corrupt or worthless. Brady, Fumo, Joesephs, Sreet, DiCicco, Santorum, Specter, Bush and I’ll throw in Rendell for giving us Casey. Bleh.
i dont understand how 56 and 43 gets you to 70
does that mean 100% of independents, commies and greens are motivated skewing the result higher?
i dont think there are that many of them to make a difference
Ahh. It took me a moment. Of course, you can very motivated to vote this year but no more than usual. That’s where the differential lies.
“Are you happy with your Congressperson? If not, who is running against them? Do they deserve our support?”
My Senator is Dianne Feinstein.
I am unhappy with this Senator of mine.
Todd Chretien, of the Green Party, is running against her.
Unlike DiFi, Todd Chretien opposes the flag burning amendment, wants to bring the troops home NOW, wants to abolish the USA Patriot Act, wants to end the Death Penalty and our state’s draconian Three Strikes law, wants to legalize gay marriage, favors single-payer health care, and will vote to censure the president for his repeated violations of U.S. and international law.
Y’all can find his website here:
http://www.todd4senate.org/
So there you have it.
Patrick Meighan
Venice, CA
It will be a cold day in hell before I vote for DiFi again. During the last primaries, I wrote in Cindy Sheehan. I will vote Green before I vote for her again. While she can offer a good cover of being a progressive, her vote for the new Banruptcy Bill was the final straw.
You can count on another vote for Chretien, though you and I know is meaningless. DiFi is just too entrenched and as a result she forgot who she represented. She chose the corporations over the people and I will not forget, even if I am stuck with her.
My congressman is Mike Rogers (R Mi. 8th). No way am I happy with him. Jim Marcinkowski is running against him. Jim sees the big picture about what is happening in this country. He has become disaffected with the GOP and switched to the Dems. His personal life is on hold as he takes on a solid GOP rep in a gerrymandered GOP district in a borderline Blue state. IMO he more than deserves our support. I was at a meeting today where about 100 local Dems welcomed Ambassador Joe Wilson and Jim.
We enjoyed their thoughts on the current political situation in our country for about 45 minutes, before it was time for them to head off to another speaking engagement. Nothing that either of them had to say gave this loyal Dem pause. All that they had to say was energizing. ( Jim is anti Iraq war, pro health care, pro pension protection, pro union, pro job creation, anti CAFTA to mention a few) If you live in the Mi. 8th, and are concerned about the future of this Nation and its Constitution, join Jim Marcinkowski and defeat Mike Rogers.
Jim is also a classmate of Larry Johnson.
Interesting about the low approval rating of congressional Dems. I suppose the antis are a mix of republicans and liberal Dems. Unfortunately, it’s likely that many Dem incumbents will suck up to the former and take the latter for granted, thus endangering what should be an easy stroll to a large Dem congressional majority. Let’s hope most have learned a lesson from Kerry, Gephardt, and the rest of the right-pandering losers.
As to my congressperson, Jan Schakowski is just about perfect except I wish she’d get out front more on the issues. She votes right on pretty much everything but rarely takes the lead on controversial stuff. She’s very unlikely to have significant opposition. A keeper for sure.
They don’t get much better than our rep, Mike Thompson (CA-1). He doesn’t get a lot of press but if the Dems retake the House, he’ll be a player.
They also don’t get much better than our Senator Boxer, which is perhaps why our Senator up for re-election, Dianne Feinstein, gives some people hives. But on balance, and though I’ll fight her on specific issues, she’s a standup Dem and she can turn on the fire, too. She eviscerated the Repubs on the bankruptcy bill, and she’s one of the few people in Congress focused on the Bush nuclear programs. She must be one of the most senior women in the Senate, so she’ll be a player, too, if the Senate comes back Dem. Not myself being perfect, I’ve learned not to require it in politicians, so I’m pleased to vote for her.
“Not myself being perfect, I’ve learned not to require it in politicians, so I’m pleased to vote for (DiFi).”
I don’t expect my senator to be perfect. I do expect them not to be awful. In light of the solid-blue nature of the state she represents, DiFi is awful. That’s why I’m pleased to vote against her.
Again, if she were merely not-perfect, I’d probably vote for her, but she’s a long long sight from even that.
Patrick Meighan
Venice, CA
By the way, since this is an open thread, is anybody else in sbc-land (now AT&T, but on the CA Yahoo/SBC) having intermittent problems with DSL? Like it’s down for an hour at a time?
I have SBC – AT&T Yahoo and lost connection either yesterday or early today but was able to reconnect right away. Have you had problems?
Sorry to reply so late. I did, at various times in the past week or so. I’ve got DSL, so I know of no way to “reconnect” –my connection internally was ok.