Question

Congress as an institution typically has very low public opinion ratings

Answer 1

The second part of this question (You must include an evaluation of YOUR congressional representative with at least TWO specific examples of why you approve or disapprove of his/her performance) is a personal task, and only you can complete it. However, we are able to provide some assistance with the first part.

It is true that Congress typically has a very low public opinion rating, while at the same time people rate their individual representatives highly. The main reason for this is the fact that people tend to think of their individual representatives as personally closer to them.

A person's representative tends to come from the same city or neighbourhood as the voter. Moreover, he tends to campaign in this area. Therefore, the voter is able to see his face, hear his voice and listen to his platform often. This creates a sense of trust and a connection between representative and voter. Moreover, as the voter himself votes the representative in, he is also more likely to be hopeful about his performance. All of these factors lead to people rating their own individual representatives more highly than Congress itself.