Congress just did something it hasn’t done in a decade

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Except, well, Congress is suddenly more popular than it’s been in more than a decade, according to new numbers from Gallup. (No word on whether dentists are experiencing a similar renaissance. And, for the record, I am no anti-Dentite.)

Now, before members of Congress starting popping bottles, it’s worth noting that their approval rating in Gallup’s new data is just 31%. Which means that a whole lot more people still disapprove of the job they are doing than approve of it.

But there’s no question that Congress’ popularity has improved markedly over recent months. Gallup polling from early 2020 pegged congressional approval at just 22%. While that number didn’t match the record low of 9% approval for Congress back in late 2013, the January number was generally consistent with where Congress has found itself over the last 10 years: With 1 in 5 Americans thinking their federally elected officials are doing a good job. (According to Gallup, the average congressional approval over the last decade is 17%. Oof.)

So what changed? The coronavirus pandemic crippled the country — and Congress reacted aggressively, passing a series of bills that pumped money into the economy in hopes of keeping it afloat until stay-at-home orders and quarantine restrictions designed to stem the spread were no longer necessary.

Previous Gallup polls show how much Congress’ image was helped by its reaction to the coronavirus. In a March Gallup survey nearly 6 in 10 Americans said they approved of the job Congress was doing to combat the virus. That number dipped to 48% in April but it was still far above overall approval for Congress.

“Although Americans are still mostly negative toward Congress, their opinions of the institution now are the most positive they have been in over a decade,” writes Gallup’s Jeffrey M. Jones. “Its work to address the coronavirus crisis has likely contributed to those higher ratings.”

That’s true across party lines too. While almost 4 in 10 Democrats approve of how Congress is doing its job, 32% of independents and 24% of Republicans say the same. That’s at least an 8-point jump for all three partisan affiliations since the beginning of the year.

What’s the bigger lesson here? Well, there are two — potentially.

1) People don’t like Congress, until they need it. There’s been a general erosion of the public’s belief in government to solve problems over the past two decades. (Remember that Bill Clinton declared the era of big government “over” way back in his 1996 State of the Union speech.) The only break in that trend has been in the immediate aftermath of natural disasters or tragedies. Support for more government rose in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, for instance. (The highest Gallup has ever measured congressional approval was 84% in an October 2001 poll.) In short: We don’t like the government in our business except when we feel like we need something that we can’t provide ourselves. And then we want all the government help we can get.

2) People like when Congress actually does stuff. The defining trait of the House and Senate over the past decade has been inaction fueled by partisan gridlock. Congress generally can’t do even little things because someone on the fringes of either party gums up the works. Well, the last two months have produced a whirlwind of activity by Congress. They are getting LOTS done — and much of it on a bipartisan basis. (Why? See point No. 1).

If past is prologue, the approval gains made by Congress will be short-lived. Already the prospects for another stimulus bill — this one aiding state and local government — look less than rosy as House Democrats and Senate Republicans can’t seem to get on the same page. And at some point in the future when the coronavirus pandemic passes, the same old deep partisan divisions that led to stagnation in Congress seem very likely to reassert themselves.

But for an institution that has spent most of the past 10 years looking jealously at the media’s approval rating, Congress is having its moment in the sun. Let’s not dwell too long on how brief that moment is likely to be.

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