Congress received its lowest rating ever during a midterm year as less than a quarter of Americans currently approve of their leaders’ performances.
Sixteen percent of the public supports the job Congress is doing, down from 21% during the last midterm elections in 2010, according to a Gallup poll released Monday. The figure is the lowest since 1974 when the organization began asking Americans about the issue ahead of the midterms.
The highest point was in 2002, with 50%.
Additionally, 23% of individuals are unhappy with the direction of the country, a figure similar to the 22% satisfaction at the time of the 2010 elections and 24% before the 1982 elections, the poll found. A significant turnover in congressional membership resulted from both of those previous elections.
Surveyors questioned 1,027 adults between June 5 and June 8 about their views on Congress. The margin of error is plus or minus four percentage points.
The results were published in the wake of Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s shocking loss in the Virginia GOP primary to represent the state’s 7th Congressional district. Gallup also recently discovered that a mere 22% of Americans believe most members of Congress deserve re-election this year. Americans’ confidence in Congress dropped to a mere 10% on the Gallup scale last June in the aftermath of various accusations of government outreach. The figure was the lowest level not only for Congress, but for any institution on record — ever. The public’s positive feelings toward Congress was higher in the mid-1980s and in the early 2000s. The high point came in 1973, at 42%.
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