Outrage outage: In a rare show of bipartisanism, both Republican and Democrat lawmakers denounced the FBI’s raid last week on Democrat Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson’s office. But according to National Journal’s PollTrack, most regular folks don’t have a problem with the first such raid on a member of Congress’ office in 214 years.
A new poll from ABC News found that an overwhelming majority — 86 percent — of respondents backed the FBI’s actions. Just 10 percent said law enforcement officers should not be allowed to search congressional offices, even with a warrant. That view was dominant among both Democrats (78 percent) and Republicans (94 percent).
Seems like high-profile scandals like the Jack Abramoff lobbying case are depressing the public’s opinions of lawmakers’ integrity.
Only 27 percent of ABC respondents gave Congress’ ethics record a positive rating. In a poll conducted by FOX News/Opinion Dynamics before the raid on Jefferson’s office, just over a quarter said they approve of how Congress is doing its job; a Diageo/Hotline survey from mid-May put approval at 29 percent.
While the ABC poll shows Democrats faring somewhat better on the ethics issue with a 7-point lead over Republicans, 72 percent of respondents see no difference in the ethics and honesty of politicians in either party.
