Congress Gets No Respect

Too bad Rodney “I Get No Respect” Dangerfield is no longer around: He’d fit right in Congress.

Gallup released a poll today that assessed the public’s confidence in 16 institutions. Congress came in last, behind even HMOs. Only 11 percent of Americans said they had a great deal or a lot of confidence in Congress, a record low for Congress and 6 percentage points below last year’s confidence level.

Half of Americans have very little or no confidence in Congress, up from 38 percent in 2009. That’s the highest negative number for any institution since 1973, when Gallup first started tracking public confidence in institutions. The presidency came close to that number in the waning days of George W. Bush’s administration.

The presidency is rated higher now, but President Barack Obama should be concerned that his high-confidence number fell from 51 percent last summer to 36 percent this summer. That was the biggest percentage drop of any of the 16 institutions in Gallup’s poll.

Small business, meanwhile, ranked No. 2 on the list, behind only the military. Two-thirds of Americans said they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in small business. Only 19 percent said the same about big business. The only solace for big business is its number improved from last year, when only 16 percent of Americans gave big business high marks.

Organized labor came in just ahead of big business, at 20 percent.

Congress’ low marks could be because of what it’s done—health care reform and financial regulatory reform, for example—or because of what it hasn’t done—pass a budget, for example.

But here’s some free advice for the esteemed gentlemen and gentleladies on Capitol Hill: Hitch your wagon to small businesses. Americans love them.

Democrats have been trying to do just that this week, with legislation that would create a $30 billion lending fund for small businesses, expand Small Business Administration programs and provide a variety of tax breaks. Republicans don’t like the lending fund—they say it reminds them of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. But the rest of the bill has bipartisan support. Americans lose confidence in Congress when partisan fighting over one issue keeps Congress from enacting other measures that almost everyone favors.

Republicans can play obstructionists, in the hopes that dissatisfaction with Congress will lead voters to throw the bums out, and give them control. But other polls show that neither Democrats nor Republicans are held in high esteem. It’s the institution that’s in trouble, not a particular political party. Both Democrats and Republicans need to get their act together. Lack of confidence in Congress helps no one.