Congress not winning friends among public

A new Gallup poll suggests only 12 percent of the public approves of Congress’s job this month.

The approval rating is virtually unchanged since December, and only 3 percentage points higher than the 9 percent recorded in November, an all-time low. 

{mosads}Approval of Congress has remained below the 14 percent average Gallup recorded for 2013 for the last few months.

Broken down by party, 23 percent of Republicans approve of Congress’s job the most so far this year. Only 7 percent of Democrats and 9 percent of independents think the same.

During the last midterm elections in 2010, Congress’s approval rating was 18 percent. Thirty percent of Democrats approved of lawmakers’ jobs while 11 percent of Republicans did. The GOP gained a large number of seats in the House that year.

Over the last four years, an average of 20 percent of people have approved of Congress. Gallup’s historical average is 33 percent. 

The current Gallup poll was conducted between Feb. 6 and 9.