For the first time ever, a majority of Americans disapprove of their own House representatives, a Washington Post-ABC News poll revealed on Tuesday.
A full 51% of Americans said they disapproved of the work their own member of Congress was doing, the first time more than 50% of respondents have said that in the 25 years the survey has asked the same question.
Conventional wisdom has always held that it's hard to shake up Congress because, while people are highly disssatisfied with the institution, they're happy with their own representative. (The same phenomenon in education in which public schools are thought poorly of but everybody likes their own kids' teachers.) If this is a sign of how truly upset people are with Congress, maybe this is a good throw-the-bums-out moment. I think we can even forget about the whole -baby-out-with-the-bathwater worry, too. At least I'm way beyond that. New blood all the way around!
