House Speaker John Boehner's approval rating plummets, on par with Nancy Pelosi

House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi say they will end the congressional page program, an initiative that brings high school students to Capitol Hill to work alongside elected officials.

“The decision is a historic mistake and brings to an untimely end a nearly two-century-old American tradition,” writes Miles Taylor for the Daily Caller internet news site:

Ever since the country’s founding, when young boys worked as “messengers” in the First Continental Congress, America’s youth have played a role in the legislative process as “pages” and have had a chance to see the operations of the world’s greatest democracy up close.

Yet the decision to axe the program seems to have been made without consulting most members of Congress, many of whom have long cherished the program’s value and its unique place in American history.

Instead, the weak rationale used to kick America’s young people out of the legislative process was formulated by two private consulting firms, which counseled Boehner and Pelosi that the program was no longer needed, in part due to “advances in technology” that have made having pages in the U.S. House less essential.

Since the beginning of the year, the Ohio Republican's approval rate dipped 7 percentage points, while his disapproval numbers climbed a whopping 24 points.

The results come on the heels of a bruising debt-ceiling debate, in which Boehner struggled at first to get enough votes to pass his plan in the House.

Now Boehner is just as unpopular his Democratic predecessor, Nancy Pelosi. According to PPP, 31% approve of the California lawmaker, while 55% disapprove.

One thousand registered voters were surveyed from Aug. 4 through Aug. 7. There is a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

The results were similar to a CNN poll released this month.

In that survey, 33% had a favorable impression of Boehner while 40% had an unfavorable opinion. In comparison, 31% had a favorable opinion of Pelosi and 51% had an unfavorable one.

PPP pollster Tom Jensen notes the fallout of the debt debate could lean in the Democrats' favor.

"It's early - but it looks very plausible that we could be back to 'Speaker Pelosi' 17 months from now," he said.