The job approval for Congress is still extremely low, and it has been for several years now. The parties seem to think that it's low because they can't get all of their own ideological ideas passed, but they are wrong. The public wants the nation's problems solved, and they aren't particularly interested if those solutions are from the left or the right -- as long as they work.
The bottom chart shows why the public is so upset with Congress. While the parties seem bent on imposing their own ideas on the country, the public want them to work together and compromise to find rational solutions. Congress used to be able to compromise for the good of the country, and the public wants them to do it again! Two-thirds of the public wants compromise, while only one-third doesn't.
These charts are from the new Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between September 3rd and 5th of a random national sample of 1,500 adults (including 1,309 registered voters), with a 3 point margin of error.
