Just 13% of California voters approve of the job Congress is doing, while an overwhelming 75% disapprove, according to the results of the latest Field Poll released over the weekend.
The poll’s findings also show that California Democrats are more likely to approve of Congress’ job performance (19%) than both Republicans (8%) and Independents (11%).
California voters were also asked to rate the job performance of their own U.S. Representative. 40% of voters statewide said they disapproved of the job their own member of Congress was doing, while just 36% approved. Those numbers mark a significant drop from April, when 44% of voters approved of their own Congressperson and 33% disapproved.
Interestingly, voters in Democratic districts approve of their own Representative by a 41%-37% margin, while voters in Republican districts strongly disapprove of their own Representative, by a 47%-25% margin.
The poll also asked California voters which party’s candidate they would prefer in their district if Congressional elections were held today.
Not surprisingly, 46% of voters statewide would choose a Democratic candidate for their district, while 38% would choose the Republican, and 16% had no opinion. Republicans have never led on this question; the closest margin was in September of 2002, when 43% indicated they would choose the Democrat while 39% picked the Republican.
The anemic support for Congress among California voters continues a trend of sustained disapproval begun in 2009, the last year support for Congress was above a 30% threshold. For comparison, between 2000-2003, Congressional approval averaged 50% among California voters, with just 38% disapproval. The downward trend began in earnest between January and March of 2010, when Congressional approval among California voters dropped from 24% to 12% in just three months.
Read the full results of the Field Poll here.
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