According to a new Gallup poll, Congress’ approval rating is 29%. President Bush’s approval rating although pretty dismal as well, is nonetheless higher at 33%:
A new Gallup Poll finds continued low levels of public support for both Congress and President George W. Bush. Twenty-nine percent of Americans approve of Congress, down slightly from last month’s reading (33%) and this year’s high point of 37%, while Bush’s approval rating is holding steady at 33%. Both the ratings of Congress and the president are slightly lower than their respective 2007 averages. Approval ratings of Congress are higher among Democrats than Republicans, while Bush’s ratings are much higher among Republicans.
The Congress’ approval rating dropped 4% in just the past month, indicating that the games the Democrats have played with the funding of Iraq have not served them well with the public.
Update: As Captain Ed notes, Congress’ approval rating has been dropping consistently since the Democrats took control in November. What’s worse for the Dems, Independents are the least satisfied:
How bad is it? Even Democrats mostly disapprove of Congress. Only 37% of the majority party’s voters think that Congress has performed well; Gallup doesn’t mention the percentage that disapproves, but it seems almost certain that it outstrips 37%, unless more than 26% are clueless. Congress gets its worst ratings not from Republicans (25%), but from independents (24%). That should get the attention of leadership in both chambers, who owe their majorities to those independents.
The decline has not taken long, and is ironically steepest among Democrats. Approval ratings for Congress peaked at an embarrassing 37% in February, just after Congress convened. Democrats at that time gave it a meager 44% approval at that time. Since then, support has dropped 7 points among Democrats and nine points among independents.
Update: Allahpundit makes a good point about Congress’ drop in the polls:
The right is disgusted with Congress for trying to surrender but it may be the left is equally disgusted with them for not trying to surrender fast enough. If you’re getting it from both sides like that, it stands to reason your approval’s going to drop.
