Congress stuck with low approval as midterms approach

A new poll indicates Congress’s overall approval rating is teetering at a low level, less than four months away from this November’s midterm elections.

Fifteen percent approve of the way Congress is handling its job, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday. This is virtually unchanged from the 16 percent approval it received in June, but up from 9 percent late last year.

The poll found 17 percent of Republicans approve of Congress, while 16 percent of Democrats approve.

{mosads}Gallup asked people in an open-ended format to provide their best recommendation to fix Congress.

Twenty-two percent said all members should either be replaced or fired. Fourteen percent said bipartisan cooperation would improve Congress. Nine percent said the public should “make members accountable to people, not their own agendas.” Eleven percent would support enacting term limits or shorter terms. Sixteen percent, meanwhile, had no opinion on how to fix it. 

The survey found 21 percent of Republicans want to fire all members and 18 percent want to institute term limits and shorter terms. A quarter of Democrats favor bipartisan cooperation as the key to fixing Congress, 17 percent said all lawmakers should be fired. Fifteen percent said to make lawmakers accountable to constituents.

The poll surveyed 1,013 adults between July 7 and 10 with a 4 percentage point margin of error.