The previous record low approval rating was 14 percent in July 2008, a time of high prices for gasoline and a poor economy. For the year, Congress averaged about a 19 percent approval rating, tied with 2008 and 1979.
Independents and Republicans were down slightly in their view of Congress, while those saying they were Democrats had the biggest drop. From October to December, Democratic support fell from 38 percent to 16 percent. Republicans fell from 9 percent to 7 percent and independents from 16 percent to 13 percent during the same period.
The poll is based on telephone interviews with 1,019 adults from Friday to Sunday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
But the institution of Congress should bounce back in the next few months, if the pattern of past changes in partisan power hold true, Gallup noted.
There was a 10-point increase after the 1994 midterm election, when Republicans won control of both houses of Congress. There was a 14-point increase in congressional approval in the months after Democrats took over in 2007.
This article appeared on page A - 22 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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