49% Favor Less Time Between Election Day and the New Congress

Most new members of the U.S. Senate and House won’t be seated until two months after their election, and a plurality of Americans think that’s too long a time.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that a plurality (49%) of Likely U.S. Voters thinks the time between Election Day and the swearing-in of new Congress members should be shorter. Thirty-two percent (32%) disagree, and 19% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

It’s important to note that the question did not specify how much shorter the time period between Election Day and the seating of the new Congress should be.

Interestingly, in January 2008, voters tended to oppose shortening the time between Election Day and the presidential inauguration on January 20. Thirty-two percent (32%) said there should be less time between the two, but 48% felt otherwise.

Most voters think Congress should wait until the new members take office in January before tackling any major new legislation, but even more expect Democrats to try to pass major legislation anyway in the upcoming lame-duck session.

(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 November 9-10, 2010 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.

How do Republicans and Democrats feel about the amount of time between Election Day and when new members are sworn in to Congress? How do Political Class voters differ from Mainstream voters on this question? Become a Platinum Member to find out.