Dems' 40% better than W's 40%?

Over the last couple of years, Dubya's approval ratings have hovered around 35% - 45% at various times. The MSM was all over that like Barney Frank on a cabana boy, touting how poor a rating of around 40% truly is. Until now. From MSNBC, the headline is amazing: "Public approval of Congress is rising, poll finds"

Public approval for Congress is at its highest level in a year as Democrats mark 100 days in power and step up their confrontation with President Bush over his handling of the Iraq War, the issue that overshadows all others.

Yet for all their eagerness to challenge Bush, congressional Democrats so far have failed to attract significant support among independents, a group that helped propel them to power in last fall's elections and now appears more strongly opposed to the war than the general public.
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Overall approval for Congress is 40 percent. The survey shows Bush's approval ratings remain in the mid-30 percent range, that a striking 39 percent strongly disapproves his handling of foreign policy and the war on terror, and that the public has scant hopes that the president and Congress can work together to solve the country's problems.
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(You have to dig deep into the story to get to the following part. - Ed.)
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Forty percent of those surveyed said they approve the job Congress is doing, up from 25 percent approval registered for the Republican majority in the weeks leading to last fall's elections. Disapproval of Congress totals 57 percent.

The public opinion split is identical on the issue of Democratic handling of Iraq — 40 percent approve, 57 percent disapprove.

Now I did go to college at Florida State, so you'll have to bear with me here. (Pulling out slide rule...multiply by pi...carry the one...radius squared...) OK, thanks for your patience. It appears to me that a 57% disapproval rating is more noteworthy than a 40% approval rating, since rumor has it that "57 > 40" is an accurate statement. Think about it this way: if the Democrat Congress had an approval rating of 1%, and the next week it was 3%, the headlines would be touting "Congressional approval ratings triples in one week!"

Nope...no liberal media bias!