Voters have low opinion of Congress

Nearly eight in 10 Americans think Congress is disconnected from their concerns, a new poll says.

The new Gallup survey released on Monday found that 79 percent believe most lawmakers are out of touch with their constituents. Even more telling, it found that 48 percent believe their own personal Congressional representative is divorced from their interests.

{mosads}Voters are generally more prone to liking their own representatives.

Overall, the poll found Congress had a dismal 14 percent approval rating.

Gallup found that 52 percent of respondents believe that most of Congress is corrupt versus 42 percent who do not. Thirty-two percent believe their own member is corrupt, while 59 percent do not.

Gallup additionally found that most Americans think Congress places the needs of special interests above their own. Sixty-nine percent believe most of Congress focuses on special interests, versus 25 percent who do not.

Gallup added that 47 percent believe their own lawmaker pays more attention to special interests, with 43 percent arguing that they focus more on their constituents instead.

Gallup’s latest survey sampled 1,025 adults nationwide via telephone from Sept. 9-13.  It has a 4 percent margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level.