Congress approval ratings up slightly to 17 percent, poll finds

GlobalPost

Congress' approval rating is up to 17 percent, a slight increase from May's 15 percent approval, according to the latest Gallup poll.

The governmental body has been struggling to regain Americans' support since it hit its all-time low of 10 percent approval in February, "but at 17 percent is certainly at the low end of its historical distribution," Gallup pointed out. 

The disapproval of Congress crosses party lines, too: about 20 percent of Democrats approved of Congress, while 17 percent of Republicans and 16 percent of independents did, Politico reported

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As the Washington Post reported, that is not usually the case.

"Historically, when one party controls both houses, those who identify with that party are generally significantly more positive than those who identify with the other party," wrote the Post's Ed O'Keefe. 

Congressional support has been hovering on the low end of the scale for years, dipping down to 14 percent in July 2008. It ticked upward in 2009 thanks to President Obama's "honeymoon phase" as president, Gallup reported, which also brought Obama high approval ratings around 60 percent. 

His approval rating was at 41 percent in March. 

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Congress' job approval in March 2009 was the highest it had been since 2005 at 39 percent, according to the poll. However, this year its ratings have routinely been below 20 percent, and is sitting at an average approval of 14 percent so far. 

Gallup's poll resulted are based on telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,004 adults conducted June 7 through 10, 2012. 

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