> The congressional GOP's approval rating is (or was) at record lows. It wasn't about pleasing their electorate.
The only approval rating that matters is the approval rating from their own constituents. And that's always been a lot better than their overall approval rating.
Or to put it another way, "everyone thinks Congress is doing a bad job, but they think their Congressman is doing a good job".
> The only approval rating that matters is the approval rating from their own constituents
A good point, but remember that most are in single-party districts; they need to please people in their party primaries but the voters in the general election have no choice.