If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

POLITICS

Only 16% Think Country Would Be Better Off If Most Incumbents in Congress Reelected

Voters are less supportive than ever of congressional incumbents and fewer than one-out-of-three think their own representative is the best person for the job.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 16% of Likely U.S. Voters feel that, generally speaking, it would be better for the country if most incumbents in Congress were reelected. That’s a seven-point drop from 23% last August and down from 19% in February 2010.

Fifty-six percent (56%) say it would be better if most incumbents were defeated and 28% are not sure (To see survey question wording, click here).

Forty percent (40%) of voters believe, regardless of how Congress is doing overall, that their local congressional representative deserves to be reelected, comparable to findings in previous surveys. Now, however, only 28% say their local congressman does not deserve reelection versus 39% last August and 42% in November 2009. One-in-three voters (32%) are not sure whether their local representative deserves reelection or not.

Thirty-one percent (31%) think their representative in Congress is the best possible person for the job, up slightly from last August but in line with findings the previous fall. Just as many (32%) disagree and say they’re not the best, but that’s down from 44% in the previous survey and 42% in 2009. The big shift again seems to be to the undecided category with 37% of voters now not sure.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls).  Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on March 26-27, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Want to read more?

Become a Rasmussen Reader to read the article

Have an account?

Log In

Become a Reader

Subscribe

Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.

We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.

Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $4.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.

To learn more about our methodology, click here.