Today, Gallup released a poll that confirms a contradictory pattern regarding voters' attitudes towards congressional incumbents. The poll shows that only 28% of respondents believe that congressional incumbents deserve to be reelected. When it comes to their own representative, however, 49% favor reelection.
These numbers suggest that, despite the unpopularity of Congress, incumbents might not face a bloodbath in November. Starting with 49% of voter support -- prior to any significant campaigning -- is not a bad position.
The numbers definitely show that voters loathe members of Congress in the abstract, but they are relatively mixed or supportive of their own representative. Does anyone else find these results fickle? Gallup only focuses on the fact that the level of support for incumbents is the lowest in its polling history, but the pollster does not mention the gap between generic incumbents and the respondents' own representatives.
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