As of 2025, the average age of senators in the 119th Congress was **. Of the total 100, ** members of the U.S. Senate were between the ages of ** and ** - more than any other age group. The minimum age requirement to be a member of the Senate is **, opposed to the House of Representatives which has a minimum age requirement of **. The average age of members of Congress from 2009 to 2023 can be found here.

While the average age of members of Congress in the United States has gradually risen in recent years, this number decreased slightly with the beginning of the 119th Congress in 2025. This Congress first convened on January 3rd, 2025, and will end on January 3, 2027. In this Congress, the average age in the House of Representatives was 57 years, and the average age in the Senate was 64 years.

In the 119th Congress which began in January 2025, almost ** percent of members of the House of Representatives were between the ages of ** and ** in 2025- more than any other age group.

The 119th Congress began in January 2025. In this Congress, there were 26 women serving as Senators, and 74 men. The number of women has increased since the 1975 when there were no women in the Senate. The first female Senator was Rebecca Felton of Georgia who was sworn in 1922. A breakdown of women Senators by party can be found here.

This poll is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Respondents were asked to give their opinions of President George W. Bush and his handling of the presidency, the economy, education, environmental issues, the federal budget, the campaign against terrorism, and Social Security, as well as their views on Congress, the Republican party, the Democratic party, First Lady Laura Bush, and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Those queried were asked which domestic and foreign policy issues should receive the administration's attention, which political party could be trusted to address these issues, and on what topics Bush should focus in his upcoming State of the Union speech. Respondents were asked to identify Bush's two most significant accomplishments and to assess his job performance during his first year in office. They were also asked whether Bush understood the problems of the average American, and whether big business, environmental groups, the oil/gas industry, and/or the American people had the appropriate amount of influence in the Bush administration. Opinions were elicited on the state of the nation's economy, how long the current economic recession would last, whether military spending or spending on social programs should be reduced to balance the federal budget, and whether the Bush administration was responsible for the budget deficit. Respondent views were sought on the 2001 collapse of the energy trading giant Enron Corporation. Topics covered whether the Enron situation was an isolated incident, whether new laws regulating corporate accounting practices or the enforcement of existing laws were necessary, the Bush administration's dealings with Enron, whether recipients of campaign contributions from Enron should disclose communications with Enron officials, and whether a full-scale federal investigation should be conducted. A series of questions addressed the ongoing war on terrorism. Topics covered respondent confidence in the ability of the United States government to prevent further terrorist attacks against Americans and to capture/kill Osama Bin Laden, whether his capture was necessary for the war to be considered a success, possible military action against Iraq to force Saddam Hussein from power, and whether non-citizens charged with terrorism should be put on trial in the United States court system or in a military tribunal. A series of questions focused on the benefits given to families of the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Items focused on whether payments should be reduced for families that had other sources of financial benefits, whether victims of previous terrorist attacks should be paid similar benefits, and whether payments should be made to the families and victims of all future terrorist attacks. Respondents expressed their degree of confidence in the federal government's ability to actually solve a problem. Those queried gave their opinions on the amount of waste in military and domestic program spending by the United States government, whether they would rather work in the public or private sector, and whether a smaller government with fewer services or a larger government with many services was preferred. A series of questions focused on Saudi Arabia. Topics covered whether Saudi Arabia was an ally or enemy of the United States, the importance of maintaining good relations with them, and whether the United States was dependent on the oil it buys from Saudi Arabia. In addition, respondents were asked to give their views on whether the federal government should allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Background information on respondents includes age, gender, political party, political orientation, voter registration and participation history, education, race, Hispanic descent, marital status, children in household, religion, labor union membership, urban/suburban/rural area of residence, whether close family/friends lost a job in the previous six months, and household income.

This poll, fielded December 12-15, 1999, is part of a continuing series of monthly polls that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Respondents were asked for their opinions of President Bill Clinton and his handling of the presidency, as well as their views on the upcoming November 7, 2000, presidential election and the current presidential primary/caucus season. Respondents were asked how much attention they had paid to the 2000 presidential race and whether they intended to vote in the election. Given a choice among Vice President Al Gore, former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley, Texas governor George W. Bush, and Arizona senator John McCain, those queried were asked for whom they would vote. Their views were also sought on the most important issues of this presidential election and which candidate was best suited to handle issues such as education, the economy, taxes, Social Security/Medicare, campaign finance reform, international affairs, and health care. Respondents were asked if the following statements applied to Bradley, Bush, Gore, or McCain: typical politician, understands the average American, strong leader, experienced enough to be president, would bring needed change to Washington, DC, knowledgeable of world affairs, could be trusted in a crisis, has a clear idea of where to lead the nation, and says what he thinks regardless of what is popular. Respondents were asked for whom they would vote in a Democratic primary or caucus, given a choice between Gore and Bradley, and for whom they would vote in a Republican primary or caucus, given a choice among Bush, publisher Steve Forbes, McCain, radio talk show host Alan Keyes, Family Research Council president Gary Bauer, and Utah senator Orrin Hatch. Additional topics focused on whether the amount of money that people could contribute to political parties should be limited, whether the people of New Hampshire had too much influence in determining who wins the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations, whether Bradley's irregular heartbeat for which he took medication was considered serious by the American people, and which candidate would best handle campaign finance reform, taxes, and balancing the federal budget. Background information on respondents includes age, gender, education, political party, political orientation, Hispanic descent, voter registration and participation history, military service, and family income.

The most recent polling data from February 2025 puts the approval rating of the United States Congress at 29 percent, reflecting a significant increase from January. The approval rating remained low throughout the 118th Congress cycle, which began in January 2025. Congressional approval Congressional approval, particularly over the past few years, has not been high. Americans tend to see Congress as a group of ineffectual politicians who are out of touch with their constituents. The 118th Congress began in 2023 with a rocky start. The Democratic Party maintains control of the Senate, but Republicans took back control of the House of Representatives after the 2022 midterm elections. The House caught media attention from its first days with a contentious fight for the position of Speaker of the House. Representative Kevin McCarthy was eventually sworn in as Speaker after a historic fifteen rounds of voting. Despite the current Congress having a historic share of women and being the most diverse Congress in American history, very little has been done to improve the opinion of Americans regarding its central lawmaking body. Ye of little faith However, Americans tend not to have much confidence in many of the institutions in the United States. Additionally, public confidence in the ability of the Republican and Democratic parties to work together has decreased drastically between 2008 and 2022, with nearly 60 percent of Americans having no confidence the parties can govern in a bipartisan way.

This poll is part of a continuing series of surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. The survey examined respondents' views about George W. Bush and his handling of the presidency, including whether they approved of Bush's job performance, whether Bush was in touch with what average people think, and whether Bush would compromise with the Democrats in Congress in order to get things done. Opinions were also gathered on Vice President Dick Cheney, former Vice President Al Gore, and Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords. Respondents were queried about what they thought was the most important problem for the President and Congress to address in the coming year, whether they approved of Congress' job performance, whether their opinions of the Democratic and Republican parties were favorable or unfavorable, and whether they thought the Democrats in Congress should work with Bush in order to get things done or if they should stick to their positions even if it meant not getting as much accomplished. Another set of questions queried respondents on their views of the economy, including whether they felt the economy was getting better, worse, or staying the same, how they rated the overall condition of the stock market, whether they felt the stock market would go up or down in the next year, how much attention they paid to what happens in the stock market, and whether they felt the United States was in an economic recession. Respondents' opinions were also solicited on Social Security and the federal budget. Questions were posed regarding whether Bush or congressional Democrats were more likely to make the right decisions about Social Security, keeping the economy strong, and spending taxpayers' money. Respondents were also asked if they thought it was possible to preserve programs like Social Security and Medicare, to increase spending on the military and pay for the tax cut enacted by Bush at the same time, whether the Social Security system would have the money available to provide the benefits they were expecting for retirement, whether individuals should be allowed to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes on their own, whether the government should be responsible to make up for losses as a result of personal investing, how likely respondents would be to invest some of their own Social Security taxes in the stock market, and whether the government should be allowed to use the Social Security surplus to help fund other government programs. In regard to the budget surplus, respondents were asked if the lower budget surplus was a result of a slowing economy or due to the tax cut, if getting the tax cut was worth a lowering of the budget surplus, if a smaller budget surplus was a good thing, whether they believed the White House or the Congressional Budget Office's budget surplus figures, if the smaller surplus would lead to government spending cuts in domestic programs, and who was to blame for the shrinking budget surplus. Several questions also probed respondents' views on the environment. Opinions were solicited on Bush's handling of the environment, whether producing energy or protecting the environment was more important, whether the oil industry had too much influence on the Bush administration's policies, and whether respondents approved of Bush's energy bill. Respondents were also asked whether they were worried about having enough savings for retirement, whether investment in the stock market was safe, how much they knew about investing, whether they currently had money invested in the stock market, whether they currently had any retirement savings such as a pension plan or 401(k), and whether they had changed their approach to investing as a result of what had happened in the stock market over the past year. A final set of questions asked thosepolled whether military spending should be increased, whether the priority for government spending should be the military or domestic programs, whether they supported United States development of a missile defense system, and whether they supported the death penalty. Background information on respondents includes age, gender, education, race/ethnic identity, voter registration, political party affiliation, political orientation, marital status, number of children in the household, and household income.

The annual salary received by members of the United States Congress in 2025 is ******* U.S. dollars. This has been the case since 2009. The Government Ethics Reform Act of 1989 provides an automatic cost of living adjustment increase in line with the

The first sitting of the ***** Congress was from January 3, 2023, to January 3, 2025. Of the members of the House who sat during this session, *** members had previous employment in public service or politics. A further *** worked in business or banking before joining the House of Representatives.