A new Gallup poll found that Americans' approval of Congress averaged 15 percent in 2014, just above last year's record low 14 percent.
If there's one thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on, it's that they are not happy with the job Congress is doing, as the same percentage (15%) of people from both parties approved. Independents give US leaders just under a 14 percent approval rating.
In 2001, following the Sept. 11 attacks, congressional job approval ratings reached an all-time high of 56 percent, a figure that Gallup says reflected the "rally in support for government institutions."
But in the past five years, Congress hasn't seen its job approval rating go above 20 percent.
Gallup suggests that the lower approval ratings are attributable to the divided control of Congress from 2011 to 2014.
"In the past, including in 2009 and 2010 under unified Democratic control of Congress, and for most of 1995 through 2006 under unified Republican control, the majority party's supporters had a much more favorable opinion of the job Congress was doing," Gallup said. "However, In January, when newly elected Republican senators are sworn in and Republicans begin controlling both houses of Congress, approval may increase as Americans who identify as Republicans become more positive.
"This has happened in the past, with Republican approval of Congress surging in 1995 and Democratic approval increasing in 2007."
A separate poll released last week by Pew found that 71 percent of Americans believe the inability for Republicans and Democrats to work together over the next two years would hurt the nation "a lot," while 16 percent say it would hurt it "some." Forty-five percent said they would be personally hurt by a lack of partisan cooperation.
In a Rasmussen survey from October, just 11 percent of Americans said they think Congress has passed legislation that will "significantly improve life in America." Rasmussen also found that just as few think members of Congress actually listen to their constituents.
