[Rugbydemon]

Currently obamas ratings are around 45 to 50% approval. Compared to congress which is around 20 to 30 % why is this? Why do the people trust the president more than congress or why do they like the president more than congress?

My understanding of presidents past would be that the american people would not trust new presidents after the watergate scandel but the polls state other wise?

Your thoughts?

[Fr_Chuck]

Most voting Americans could not even tell you what watergate was, except for perhaps shredding of documents and some issue Nixon had. And the public view the president as a leader wanting a new direction, But also for Obama, there is a race issue, that many people support him because he is black.
I know many people who do not even wish to discuss his beliefs, if you disagree with him they call you a racist.

After that, most Americans have come to realise that the President does not have the ability to make or change any laws, it is congress that does this

[Blackula]

Ouch! That's a pretty heavy-handed indictment of the American people.

[450donn]

But pretty much right on. If not for "political correctness" I seriously doubt Obama would have gotten elected. He has played the race card throughout his political career. Only now as President people are starting to see how hollow a shell he is.

[Dr1757]

I don't know anyone that trusts the POTUS more than Congress. Frankly neither one has done a good job of bringing the economy back to life. Both sides on Congress have demonstrated that they are above the laws that we must live by, and have spent this great nation into near bankruptcy. We are going down the same path that destroyed the Roman Empire and Greece. We the people have got to get more involved in holding our elected officials accountable.

[ebaines]

It has nothing to do with Obama's race, or his personality, or whatever. The US president ALWAYS has a higher rating than Congress, no matter who he is. This was true under George W Bush, regardless of whether Congress was Republican or Democrat. And it was true of Clinton, again regardless of whether it was a Republican or Democrat congress. It was even true when Nixon was in office, right up until the day he resigned. The President always gets a higher rating because he has a well-known face, and people have heard him speak. He also gets enough TV coverage that he actually has a chance to make a case for his policies, as opposed to Congress which by its nature as a collective of hundreds of individuals can not make a coherent argument for anything. Also, over 50% of the voters actually voted for the president, so they have a predisposition to support him. Compare that with Congress - maybe you voted for three of them (1 rep + 2 senators), but the rest are just a nameless mob to you, so you are less likely to give them the benefit of the doubt. Hence they get a lower rating as a group. That's why in most polls people rate their own congressman and senators quite highly - usually higher than the president - but rate congress as a whole quite low.