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Pliny's Point on February 9, 2017
February 9, 2017: An average of recent polls shows the congressional approval rating is at 21 percent, up one point from last week, due to new polls released by The Economist/YouGov and Gallup. These new polls showed change in opposite directions. Gallup's last congressional approval poll was from the beginning of January, where 19 percent of respondents approved of how Congress was doing its job. This month, Gallup's congressional approval rating increased to 28 percent. The Economist/YouGov weekly poll showed a less dramatic change, going from a 19 percent approval rating last week, to a 16 percent rating this week.
All of the polls included in today's average are listed below.
| Source | Date | Sample size | % approval |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economist/YouGov[1] | 2/5 - 2/7 | 1315 registered voters | 16 |
| Gallup[2] | 2/1 - 2/5 | 1035 adults | 28 |
| Quinnipiac University[3] | 1/20 - 1/25 | 1190 registered voters | 19 |
| Fox News[4] | 1/15 - 1/18 | 1006 registered voters | 17 |
| CBS News[5] | 1/13 - 1/16 | 1257 adults | 24 |
Methodology
For Ballotpedia's presidential approval, congressional approval, and direction of the country polling results, we take an average of the most recent polls on one or more of these topics conducted by 12 sources. Polls may be included in the average for up to 30 days, though this timeline may be adjusted to account for major news events as we attempt to balance the need for a larger sample of results with the need to remove outdated information. For a full description of our methodology and polling explanations, see: Ballotpedia's Polling Indexes.
What's in a name?
Pliny the Elder, a scholar from the Roman Empire, is most well known for writing the encyclopedic work Naturalis Historia, or “Natural History.” His extremely thorough work covered everything from botany to technology. Naturalis Historia, one of the largest Roman works that still exists from the first century A.D., became an example for future encyclopedic works through its formatting, references, and comprehensiveness.
Today, Ballotpedia works to preserve and expand knowledge, just like Pliny did hundreds of years ago. One of the features of Ballotpedia, the encyclopedia of American politics, was a daily statistic called Pliny’s Point. Each day, between January 20, 2017 and September 1, 2017, readers learned where Americans stood on the direction of the country, or their approval of elected officials.
Click here for more Pliny's Point articles.
See also
Ballotpedia daily polling averages:
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Footnotes
- ↑ YouGov, "The Economist/YouGov Poll," February 5-7, 2017
- ↑ Real Clear Politics, "Gallup Poll Social Series: World Affairs," February 1-5, 2017
- ↑ Quinnipiac University, "Trump Starts In The Hole As U.S. Voters Disapprove, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds," January 26, 2017
- ↑ Fox News, "Poll," January 19, 2017
- ↑ CBS News, "Poll: Expectations for the Trump Presidency," January 13-16, 2017
