WASHINGTON – Public approval for Congress is at its highest level in a year as Democrats mark 100 days in power and step up their confrontation with President Bush over his handling of the Iraq war.
Overall approval for Congress is 40 percent, an AP-Ipsos nationwide poll found. The survey shows Bush’s approval ratings remain in the mid-30 percent range and that 39 percent strongly disapproves his handling of foreign policy and the war on terror.
Already, though, the limits on the new majority’s power are evident.
The minimum wage bill is becalmed as Republicans demand tax cuts as the price for passage.
And Bush has threatened to veto a measure to expand the criteria for federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. The House passed the bill earlier in the year, and Senate debate is scheduled for this week.
Forty percent of those surveyed said they approve the job Congress is doing, up from 25 percent approval registered for the Republican majority in the weeks leading to last fall’s elections. Disapproval of Congress totals 57 percent.
The public opinion split is identical on the issue of Democratic handling of Iraq – 40 percent approve, 57 percent disapprove.
Support is lower among self-described political independents, who deserted Republicans in last fall’s elections to give 57 percent of their votes to Democrats. Now, only 32 percent of them register approval of the job Congress is doing; 36 percent favor the way Democrats are handling Iraq.
Even anti-war Democrats seem slow in warming to the new majority in Congress. While 59 percent of that group approve of the way their party is handling Iraq, 39 percent disapprove.
Among Republicans, 86 percent disapprove.
The poll relied on interviews last week with 1,000 adults. The margin of error was 3 percentage points.
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