Survey finds voters generally think everything stinks in politics

By Marc Kovac

news@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

Voters aren’t pleased with Republicans or Democrats serving in Congress, they’re not overly happy with the president and they’re unsatisfied with the way things are going generally in the country.

A majority also say the U.S. Senate should consider President Barack Obama’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, though respondents were divided along party lines.

Those were the findings of a new national survey by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, which questioned 1,451 registered voters over the past week.

On Congress, only 15 percent of those polled said they approved of the job Republicans were doing in office, versus 81 percent who disapproved. Democratic members of the U.S. House and Senate received a 32 percent approval rating, versus 62 percent of voters who disapproved of their work.

“Let’s face it: Both parties are deeply unpopular, but the Democrats are the least reviled,” Tim Malloy, assistant director of the poll, said in a released statement.

Voters were split on Obama’s work in office, with 49 percent approving and 48 percent disapproving – the president’s best net score in several years, according to Quinnipiac.

Most voters (62 percent) said the U.S. Senate should consider Judge Merrick Garland, the president’s initial pick for the U.S. Supreme Court. Democrats supported the move, 87 percent- 8 percent. Republican voters disapproved, 62 percent-33 percent.

And only 29 percent of those questioned were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the state of the nation.

Connecticut-based Quinnipiac regularly gauges the views of Ohioans and voters in other swing states on issues and candidates.

Its latest poll has a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.