POLITICAL BRIEFING
RATINGS GAME: Leaders of Congress can add one more burden to their current woes: a sharp drop in their job ratings by senior congressional aides.
Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell of Maine and Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas tied in the poll, with 42% of the staffers rating each of them excellent or very good. But that figure represented a big drop from their 1991 numbers, when 67% rated Mitchell an excellent or very good leader and 59% gave Dole that rating.
House Speaker Thomas S. Foley, a Washington state Democrat, took the biggest tumble in the poll, which is conducted by the Washington public relations firm of Fleishman Hillard Inc. Foley’s positive rating dropped from 67% last year to 34% this year.
Fleishman Hillard official Richard Sullivan said the figures are “indicative of a broader trend that reflects a lack of public confidence in our elective leadership.”
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