Fact: Nearly two-thirds of independent voters are dissatisfied with their congressional representatives. They don’t believe their representatives share their values.
Washington, you have a problem, and elected officials should take note: Regardless of party affiliation, those who elected you no longer have faith in the idea that you actually represent them, according to the latest Issues & Insights/TIPP Poll.
It’s no surprise that many voters are turned off by the political class these days. As repeated polls show, voters from both parties agree that the results of recent years from Washington have been less than stellar. And the voters feel Washington is divorced from their everyday concerns and needs.
In the most recent online I&I/TIPP Poll, taken Jan. 4-6 from 1,107 registered voters across the country, voters were asked two questions about their elected officials in Washington.
The first question simply asked: “In general, do you believe that [your] elected officials in Washington represent MOSTLY the views and values of: Their Constituents (voters), Big Donors, or Not Sure.”
The answer was overwhelming and doesn’t bode well for official Washington. Two-thirds (66%) said elected officials represent mostly the views and values of their big donors, not average Americans. Just 16% said they felt their elected officials represented their constituents. Another 18% said they weren’t sure.
When it comes to the politics of those who took the poll, which has a margin of error of +/-3.0 percentage points, this was one of the most uniform responses in I&I/TIPP Poll history.
Among Democrats, 61% said “Big donors,” compared to 68% of Republicans and 73% of Independents. “Constituents” garnered only 20% of Democrats, 16% of Republicans and just 9% of Independents.
So the political disgruntlement is deep, widespread and multi-partisan.
But there were some deeper demographic differences. Most notably, the older the person responding, the more likely they were to believe that their elected officials were really representing the interests and views of those who gave them big bucks as opposed to their constituents.
Among voters from 18-24 years of age, 53% responded “big donors,” while 21% said “their constituents.” That compares to the 25-44 age group which responded 57% big donors and 24% their constituents. The 45-64 age group said 70% big donors and only 13% constituents, while age 65+, the most negative group, came in at 75% big donors, compared to a mere 8% for their constituents.
Obviously, the older the voter, the more wary they are of their Washington representatives.
Race was another big difference. Among white voters, 71% said their representatives worked for their big donors, while a tiny 12% said their constituents. Among Black and Hispanic Americans, 52% felt their representatives reflected the views and values of their big donors, compared to 27% who responded their constituents.
Voters were then asked one more closely related question, reflecting how people felt about their own representatives in Washington: “How satisfied are you that your congressional representative represents your views and values?”
Once again, voters were not happy. Just 39% of Americans said they were satisfied with their congressional representative, while 52% said they were not satisfied.
This time, the political differences showed. Overall, 50% of Democrats called themselves “satisfied,” vs. 43% “dissatisfied,” with their representative. Not so Republicans or Independents. For GOP voters, just 36% said they were happy with their representative, while 53% were unhappy.
By far, Independents were least happy: Only 27% declared themselves “satisfied,” compared to a whopping 64% who said they were “dissatisfied.”
Looking at these numbers, the Democrats are more likely to feel they’re well-represented in Washington, though it’s still not a majority. Republicans and Independents clearly have bigger issues with business-as-usual in the nation’s capital.
Both major parties would be wise to pay attention to increasingly restive voters, who see Washington as out of touch and not engaged with average Americans’ problems.
The BIG QUESTION then is: Why, if we’re so disapproving of our elected officials in Washington, do we keep re-electing so many incumbents every voting cycle? For years, political analysts said while most voters were unhappy with Washington leadership in general, they were generally satisfied with their particular Congressmen or women.
However, this latest Issues & Insights/TIPPS poll doesn’t bear that out; in fact, it contradicts it entirely. Remember, it said only 39% were satisfied with their representative while 52% said they were not.
My theory is that most incumbent politicians repeatedly lie about their accomplishments while in office, and most voters do not fact-check them or otherwise attempt to verify their claims. Likewise, most candidates running for political offices make promises they know they are very unlikely to deliver.
Many voters, apparently, just believe what they hear and re-elect a lot of incumbents and political wannabees who say what they want to hear. Sad but true, I think.
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