Former Florida Congressman Mark Foley remains in the news, but 47% of American adults believe inappropriate relationships between members of Congress and staff members are somewhat or very common. A Rasmussen Reports national opinion poll of 1,000 adults found that just 29% say such relationships are not very common or not at all common (see crosstabs).

Thirty-nine percent (39%) rate the Republican leadership’s handling of the Foley situation as “poor.” Just 23% say the leadership’s response has been good or excellent.

However, the GOP leaders get a bit of a break in that expectations of Congressional leaders remain low. Just 19% of Americans believe Democratic leaders would have done a better job if Foley was a Democrat. Twenty-two percent (22%) say the Democratic response would have been worse while 43% say it would have been about the same.

Earlier surveys found similarly low expectations for Congress—a plurality believes used-car salesman are more trustworthy than members of Congress. Just 15% believe convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff behaved outside the norm for lobbyists.

Not surprisingly, there is a huge partisan divide on this. Republicans are evenly divided between those who say the Democrats would have been worse and those who say the Democrats’ response would have been about the same. Democrats are divided between those who say their leaders would have done better and those who say Democrats’ response would have been about the same.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) report following the evolving story about Foley closely with more than one-quarter (26%) saying they’re tracking the story “very closely.” Those numbers are down slightly from a previous poll taken just after the story broke.

Although most are paying attention, only 15% consider the situation “very important” in terms of how they will vote this November. Not surprisingly, nearly three times more Democrats than Republicans hold that view (24% versus 9%.)

Crosstabs available for Premium Members only.