Once more, we must revisit Jane’s Law:
Jane’s Law: The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane.
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows that disapproval of Congress’s performance is higher than it has been since 1994, the year voters swept Democrats out of power on Capitol Hill. Americans have grown gloomier about the nation’s direction, the economy and Iraq, and by 65%-17% they say Congress doesn’t share their priorities.
“If you’re a member of Congress … you’d better be looking over your shoulder,” says Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who helps conduct the Journal/NBC survey. His Republican counterpart, Bill McInturff, adds that a particular concern for incumbents looking to 2006 is unhappiness among senior citizens, a group that disproportionately turns out to vote in midterm elections.
While the survey contains warning signs for members of both parties, it is especially problematic for Republicans as the party in power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. The poll of 1,005 adults, conducted May 12-16, shows that the greatest erosion in congressional approval has occurred among self-described Republicans. The poll’s margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.
Just 42% of Americans say their representative deserves to be re-elected, while a 45% plurality calls it time for someone new. When Americans are asked which party they want to control Congress after the 2006 elections, Democrats hold a 47%-40% edge — the party’s best showing since the Journal/NBC survey began asking that question in 1994.
Again, Democrats should not take this as a sign that things are turning their way, because the poll shows disgust at them as well. But, as a life-long Republican, I have never been as disgusted with my party as I am right now, and I would have a hard time voting for the national Republican party right now.
The whole poll can be found here in .pdf format.
*** Update ***
Fiscal conservatives in action.