Congress gets sarcastic applause for dwelling near same approval as flat earth
Congressional approval has reached a new low, and CNN's Harry Enten sarcastically congratulated lawmakers for sharing space with some of the fringiest positions in public opinion polling.
Republicans control both houses of Congress, along with President Donald Trump in the White House, and the legislative branch just tied an all-time record for disapproval among Americans.
"I just want to say to Congress, stand up and applaud," Enten said. "You're usually hated, but usually not this hated. You're reaching, or at least tying, record highs in terms of disapproval. Hello – 86 percent, 86 percent of Americans disapprove of Congress. That is tied with November of 2013 for the all-time high."
Republicans held a 234-201 House majority at that time, during Barack Obama's second term and right after a 16-day government shutdown ended, while Democrats held a 55-45 Senate majority, including two independents.
"As I said, Congress usually hated, but usually not this hated," Enten said. "You're actually managing to tie records. Just 10 percent, just 10 percent of Americans approve of the job that Congress is doing. So therefore, as I said, stand up and give yourselves a round of applause. You managed to do it – congratulations."
Enten then placed that measure of approval into contest with some other topics in public opinion.
"I just was searching my house like, okay, what else basically has 10 percent of the population by their side?" Enten said. "Just take a look here, okay, Americans who say that the moon landing was faked back in 1969 – Sara Sidner off on the side laughing. More Americans say that the moon landing was faked back in 1969 than actually approve of the job that Congress is doing right now at 10 percent. That 10 percent is equal to the percentage of Americans that believe that the earth is flat. Of course, we did not fake the moon landing. We did land on the moon, and of course the earth is actually a sphere. My dear friends, yes, it's not flat. You can't walk off the edge of the earth. But apparently the same percentage believe that Congress is a job well done."
Sidner agreed those numbers were "brutal" and asked whether Enten knew why voters were so annoyed or angry at lawmakers.
"P----- is a great word," Enten agreed. "Perturbed is another one. I like my P's early in the morning, but I would just say this. You see this 10 percent, right? You go, how the heck did we end up here? You know, Republicans control the House, Republicans control the Senate, but yet Republicans have actually turned on this congress. Just take a look here, I mean, just look at this. Congress has net approval rating among the GOP back in March of 2025, it was plus-33 percent. That was the net approval, that was the net approval. Down it goes to minus-56. What is that? That's like an 89-point move over a little bit year's time. No wonder at this point Congress is facing record high disapproval rating because even Republicans, and their party controls Congress, absolutely despises it."
"Wow," Sidner said. "Those numbers are abysmal. I don't know what Congress can do to fix them."
"There's nothing," Enten replied. "I mean, maybe they can walk off the edge of the flat earth."
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