Just 27% of Democratic voters say the average Democratic member of Congress is more liberal than the average Democrat. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 19% hold the opposite view and think the average Democrat in Congress is more conservative than the average Democratic voter.

A solid plurality of 47% say that voters and Congressman in the President’s party are about the same ideologically.

Unaffiliated voters have a different perspective. Sixty-two percent (62%) of the unaffiliateds believe the average Democrat in Congress is more liberal than the average Democratic voter. Seventy percent (70%) of Republicans hold that view as well.

While Democrats tend to see their party’s representatives as sharing a similar ideological identity, things are quite different in the Republican Party. Republican voters overwhelmingly believe that their representatives in Congress have lost touch with the party’s base.

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Regardless of the party, there is a high degree of skepticism about Congress. Just 22% believe that the legislature has a good understanding of the proposed health care reform.

Two-out-of-three voters (67%) lack confidence that Congress knows what it’s doing when it comes to the economy. Seventy-four percent (74%) trust their own economic judgment more than that of the average member of Congress.
If they could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, 57% would vote to replace the entire Congress and start all over again.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of voters now have an unfavorable view of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco Democrat’s highest negatives to date.

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