Politics

Shoes over news as Rasmussen poll conks Congress

Many in the media went flaky over First Lady Melania Trump’s footwear Tuesday, in deference to real news. (YouTube, The Telegraph)

Underscoring President Donald Trump’s remarks last week in Phoenix about “fake news,” there was curious attention Tuesday to First Lady Melania Trump’s footwear, and not much news at all Wednesday about a new poll that shows Congress is in the public doghouse.

Capitol Hill critics of the president best keep their eyes open, ears to the ground and mouths shut, according to new survey results from Rasmussen that shows only 14 percent of likely voters think the U.S. House of Representatives is doing a good job.

Faith in the Senate is even lower, with the upper house earning only 11 percent support for doing a good or excellent job.

On the other hand, a whopping 51 percent of those surveyed think the House is doing a poor job and that’s the same rating given to the Senate. It’s slightly better than July, when 56 percent of likely voters thought Congress was doing a poor job.

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

Meanwhile, Rasmussen’s daily presidential tracking poll puts Trump ahead of Congress, with a 41 percent approval rating among likely voters, although 58 percent disapprove of his performance.

But that may be partly due to the determination of a biased news media to constantly find something negative about the president to report. On Tuesday, for example, the many in the media seemed focused not so much on the president’s visit to beleaguered southeast Texas, but on the fact that First Lady Melania Trump wore spike heels while boarding Air Force One for the Texas trip. The manufactured controversy had enough traction to rate a column in the New York Times’ Fashion & Style section.

According to Rasmussen, 27 percent of Republicans and only nine percent of Democrats give the House positive ratings, along with nine percent of independents. On the Senate side, only 19 percent of Republican voters, eight percent of Democrats and six percent of independents give that 100-member body the nod.

Trump’s number might improve by Thursday, too, considering that CNBC is reporting that the revised GDP is up 3 percent versus the predicted rise of 2.7 percent during the second quarter. An economy growing faster than predicted could be good for the stock market, which is good news for anyone with a stock-based retirement program.

But don’t worry, because the press is likely to find something else negative to report about Trump, if one believes the polling. Tuesday’s Rasmussen Reports noted that 92 percent of likely voters who strongly agree with what Trump said about the media during his visit to Phoenix last week.

With his audience’s attention focused on the press corps, Trump stated, “If you wanted to discover the source of the division in our country, look no further than the fake news and the crooked media which would rather get ratings and clicks than tell the truth.”
Overall, 43 percent agree with that observation while 51 percent disagree.

 

Related Articles

Our Privacy Policy has been updated to support the latest regulations.Click to learn more.×