Measuring Congressional Approval

Date of Submission

5-13-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Advisor

Patricia Crouse

Keywords

public opinion, congressional performance, approval

LCSH

public opinion, administrative procedure

Abstract

The probable link between public favorability, or lack thereof, and a low-performing Congress has received little attention. Investigating this potential relationship and examining whether either impacts the other is critical to understanding Congressional performance and citizens' true feelings about their elected officials. The proposed study examines the possible correlation between public opinion and Congressional performance, whereby the examination of provided public studies and a comparison of a small survey population with an extensive population survey is observed. Particularly, the data collection method conducted for this study will consist of a convenient sample of individuals who were sent a confidential and optional twenty-nine-question survey, where answers are analyzed and compared with publicly published data from the Pew Research Center. The expected results of this study were that low favorability or poor public opinion of Congress correlates with a low-performing Congress, in addition to an overall assessment of current public approval of Congress. Such an understanding is critical to assess and present to academic peers as part of the Honors Thesis presentation, and to collaborate and discuss the implications of such a correlation, and why it exists. Overall, the study aims to examine the impact of public opinion on Congressional performance. The research yielded that increasingly public favorability of Congress has been decreasing steadily overall and contributing data and news reporting results in a decline of productivity–low-performance–in Congress. Further, an article found through research helps explain that public opinion impacts Congressional members in differing ways, relating to elections and policy decisions.

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