Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare)

[IMADreamer]

Let the Republicans shut it down. Shut down the whole [expletive] country. Expose them for the terrorizing [expletive] that they are. I've said for 10 years the Republicans are the real terrorists. Remember the "the sign will be a mushroom cloud over NYC?" Then it was Obama is a socialist, he's going to take your guns, he's going to take your medicare, he's going to take your social security. Fear mongering all the way. Fear mongering all the way to their own bigger bank accounts on the backs of the worker man. The middle class is gone. Oh you think you are middle class but how much do you owe on your house? 100k, 200k? You're [expletive] broke too just like all those people making minimum wage. All so that someone can profit.

Shut it all down, for weeks, months, hell whatever it takes for all the ignorant [expletive] out there that keep voting these greedy sons of [expletive] into office.

[Valpo Cardinal Fan]

Congress' disapproval rating is up to 83% according to one poll. So, they should do the right thing and resign, I guess.

Everybody disapproves of Congress but I wonder how many will not vote for their current Congressperson or Senators. If you are not willing to change your own Congressperson or Senators, who have been serving for long periods, then Congress will never change.

Look at your own Congressperson. Think of how long they have been in office. Do they fear losing their job? Would you be willing to change them today? If you are not then Congress will not change!!!

The Congressperson or Senator has to feel the fear of the public not voting for them in order for them to change their behavior no matter what party they are from.

[ghostrunner]

Congress' disapproval rating is up to 83% according to one poll. So, they should do the right thing and resign, I guess.

Everybody disapproves of Congress but I wonder how many will not vote for their current Congressperson or Senators. If you are not willing to change your own Congressperson or Senators, who have been serving for long periods, then Congress will never change.

Look at your own Congressperson. Think of how long they have been in office. Do they fear losing their job? Would you be willing to change them today? If you are not then Congress will not change!!!

The Congressperson or Senator has to feel the fear of the public not voting for them in order for them to change their behavior no matter what party they are from.

Yeah. That stat is more or less meaningless. "Congress" is a convenient scapegoat for Presidents, the public, and even Congressmen. Even people who are happy with their particular congressman.

[Arthur Dent]

Congress' disapproval rating is up to 83% according to one poll. So, they should do the right thing and resign, I guess.

Everybody disapproves of Congress but I wonder how many will not vote for their current Congressperson or Senators. If you are not willing to change your own Congressperson or Senators, who have been serving for long periods, then Congress will never change.

Look at your own Congressperson. Think of how long they have been in office. Do they fear losing their job? Would you be willing to change them today? If you are not then Congress will not change!!!

The Congressperson or Senator has to feel the fear of the public not voting for them in order for them to change their behavior no matter what party they are from.

Yeah. That stat is more or less meaningless. "Congress" is a convenient scapegoat for Presidents, the public, and even Congressmen. Even people who are happy with their particular congressman.

I don't agree that it's meaningless. It's not a contradiction to disagree with collective behavior of Congress as an entity while not choosing to vote out your particular Congressperson. And I don't know why disapproval of Congress is just a scapegoat. The behavior of the current Congress has been pretty appalling by its own actions.

[ghostrunner]

Congress' disapproval rating is up to 83% according to one poll. So, they should do the right thing and resign, I guess.

Everybody disapproves of Congress but I wonder how many will not vote for their current Congressperson or Senators. If you are not willing to change your own Congressperson or Senators, who have been serving for long periods, then Congress will never change.

Look at your own Congressperson. Think of how long they have been in office. Do they fear losing their job? Would you be willing to change them today? If you are not then Congress will not change!!!

The Congressperson or Senator has to feel the fear of the public not voting for them in order for them to change their behavior no matter what party they are from.

Yeah. That stat is more or less meaningless. "Congress" is a convenient scapegoat for Presidents, the public, and even Congressmen. Even people who are happy with their particular congressman.

I don't agree that it's meaningless. It's not a contradiction to disagree with collective behavior of Congress as an entity while not choosing to vote out your particular Congressperson. And I don't know why disapproval of Congress is just a scapegoat. The behavior of the current Congress has been pretty appalling by its own actions.

I guess I think it's a meaningless question. "How do you rate this governing body of 535 individuals?" You're asking a diverse public it's opinion on a diverse group. What does it prove? I would even wager that Democratic approval of a random Republican would be the same or higher relative to the same Democrat's approval of Congress on the whole, though I admit that's just a guess on my part. And it's not useful to a Congressperson either, as they can just assume the voters are referring to other members.

The numbers have historically been low anyway:



The only time it went above 50 is when the economy was percieved to be good and after 9/11. In general it seems to follow the economy as much as anything. I'm not sure what you're supposed to take from that.

[Socnorb11]

I guess I think it's a meaningless question. "How do you rate this governing body of 535 individuals?" You're asking a diverse public it's opinion on a diverse group. What does it prove? I would even wager that Democratic approval of a random Republican would be the same or higher relative to the same Democrat's approval of Congress on the whole, though I admit that's just a guess on my part. And it's not useful to a Congressperson either, as they can just assume the voters are referring to other members.

The numbers have historically been low anyway:



The only time it went above 50 is when the economy was percieved to be good and after 9/11. In general it seems to follow the economy as much as anything. I'm not sure what you're supposed to take from that.

How do you account for it being lower than it's ever been?

[pioneer98]

"Polls about Obamacare are accurate without being true"

As New York Times columnist Charles Blow has noted, a new CNN/ORC Poll shows that while 35 percent of the public (the conservative base) oppose Obamacare because it’s too liberal, 16 percent oppose it because it isn’t liberal enough.

In other words, 59 percent of the American public either supports Obamacare or wants it to go further.

[ghostrunner]

Mostly I find it contradictory. The people who I presume are causing the recent dip (we're talking from 16% to 10% here - I don't see that as a big change) are doing exactly what they said they'd do. I think a long recession and economic issues have probably contributed to it. I think redistricting has probably contributed some too - voters can be very happy with their representatives and none of the surrounding ones.

Apart from that though, I just don't see the value in a poll this general. If anything, it makes it very easy for sitting Congresspersons to interpret it as they see fit. As pioneer noted, people would likely be more in favor of the ACA if you ask them about pieces of it, yet when you ask if they like the law as a whole they say no. That's because the law is discussed in generalities or complete inaccuracy. Same goes for Congress - it's too general a question to get anything out of the answer.

[pioneer98]

Congress' disapproval rating is up to 83% according to one poll. So, they should do the right thing and resign, I guess.

Everybody disapproves of Congress but I wonder how many will not vote for their current Congressperson or Senators. If you are not willing to change your own Congressperson or Senators, who have been serving for long periods, then Congress will never change.

Look at your own Congressperson. Think of how long they have been in office. Do they fear losing their job? Would you be willing to change them today? If you are not then Congress will not change!!!

The Congressperson or Senator has to feel the fear of the public not voting for them in order for them to change their behavior no matter what party they are from.

Well, my Congressman (Bruce Braley) is not in a position to control Congress' agenda like Ted Cruz and the others are. My Congressman votes against the stupid things proposed by Cruz, so I have no problem re-electing my Congressman. Unfortunately, he's probably going to run for Senator of Iowa to replace Tom Harkin when he retires. I hope we get someone decent to replace him.

At the senate level, I didn't have much if a problem with Harkin or Grassley over the years, either. I even voted for Grassley 2 cycles ago. For most of his career he was a moderate Republican, although he has shifted to the right, like so many others. He's the one who coined the phrase "they want to pull the plug on Grandma". So after voting for him 2 elections ago, I voted against him last time.

Iowa may be a very poor example of partisanship, because it is one of the most "purple" states in the country. We have a Republican governor, a Democrat-controlled House, and the contingent we send to Washington is a mixed bag. Our Republican governor has done some things I disagree with. He was our governor in the past also, and again, he has shifted to the right. Despite that, for the most part he has worked with the Democratic House to get budgets and bills passed. They compromised. Gerrymandering can't happen in Iowa due to our districting laws (redistricting is done by a non-partisan panel). That probably has a lot to do with it.

The problems arise in highly-gerrymandered states. It leads to polarization and extreme views, and more extreme candidates on both sides.

[Pudgelewis]

Let the Republicans shut it down. Shut down the whole [expletive] country. Expose them for the terrorizing [expletive] that they are. I've said for 10 years the Republicans are the real terrorists. Remember the "the sign will be a mushroom cloud over NYC?" Then it was Obama is a socialist, he's going to take your guns, he's going to take your medicare, he's going to take your social security. Fear mongering all the way. Fear mongering all the way to their own bigger bank accounts on the backs of the worker man. The middle class is gone. Oh you think you are middle class but how much do you owe on your house? 100k, 200k? You're [expletive] broke too just like all those people making minimum wage. All so that someone can profit.

Shut it all down, for weeks, months, hell whatever it takes for all the ignorant [expletive] out there that keep voting these greedy sons of [expletive] into office.

Do you place any problems (or any piece of the problems) at all on your own party? Lol!