How about a group of randomly selected primates?
49% Believe Randomly Selected Group Could Do Better Than Congress
Rasmussen Polling
Friday, December 30, 2022
Most voters believe congressional elections are rigged to protect incumbents and nearly half think a group of people randomly selected from the phone book could do a better job addressing the nation’s problems than the current Congress.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 49% of Likely U.S. voters believe such a randomly selected group could do a better job than Congress. That’s up 10 points from January 2015, and near the all-time high of 52% in July 2014. One-in-three (33%) disagree and do not think a randomly selected group could do a better job. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
One-in-three (33%) disagree and do not think a randomly selected group could do a better job. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.) LINK
Fifty-two percent (52%) think members of Congress almost always get re-elected because the election rules are rigged to benefit incumbents – down from 59% in 2015 – while only 24% believe most incumbents are reelected because they do a good job representing their constituents. Another 24% are not sure.
The survey of 900 U.S. Likely Voters was conducted on December 22 and 26-27, 2022 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.
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More Republicans (64%) than Democrats (38%) or voters not affiliated with either major party (54%) believe election rules are rigged to favor incumbent members of Congress.
Republicans (57%) are also more likely than Democrats (41%) or unaffiliated voters (50%) to think a group of people selected at random from the phone book would do a better job addressing the nation’s problems than the current Congress.
More whites (54%) than black voters (47%) or other minorities (46%) say election rules are rigged to benefit incumbents, but whites (47%) are less likely than black voters (50%) or other minorities (53%) to believe a randomly selected group could do a better job than Congress.
There is not much “gender gap” on the question of whether people selected at random would do better than the current Congress – 50% of men and 47% of women voters think so – but men (57%) are significantly more likely than women (46%) to believe rules are rigged to ensure most members of Congress get reelected.
Voters under 40 are less likely than their elders to think randomly selected people could do a better job than Congress, while voters ages 40-64 are most likely to believe members of Congress almost always get re-elected because the election rules are rigged to benefit incumbents.
Voters with annual incomes below $100,000 are significantly less likely than those with higher incomes to think most incumbents are reelected because they do a good job representing their constituents.
Retirees and private sector workers are more likely than government employees to believe rules are rigged to ensure most members of Congress get reelected.
President Joe Biden’s strongest supporters have more confidence in Congress. Among voters who Strongly Approve of Biden’s job performance as president, 43% think the reason most members of Congress get reelected is because they do a good job representing their constituents, a belief shared by just seven percent (7%) of those who Strongly Disapprove of Biden’s performance.
Democrats who decided to publicly release former President Donald Trump’s income tax returns would get their comeuppance next year, if voters had their druthers.
More voters now believe Ukraine is winning its war against Russia’s invasion, and give President Joe Biden higher ratings for his handling of the issue.
Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.
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