Congress for the second consecutive month — and in the wake of the coronavirus relief measures passed on Capitol Hill — has notched its highest approval rating since 2009, a new poll showed Friday.
In the Gallup survey, Congress’ job approval rating remained at 31%.
The last time Capitol Hill had an approval rating of 31% or better was in early September 2009, during President Barack Obama's first year in office, when he worked with Democratic majorities in Congress.
The telephone survey of 1,028 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
In a breakdown, the poll found:
- Congress' approval rating for handling the coronavirus crisis is 48%.
- President Donald Trump's job approval is at 49%, unchanged from the prior measure in late April and tied for the best of his presidency.
- Congress' approval rating had averaged 17% for the prior 10 years, considerably below its historical average of 30% approval since 1974.
- The highest rating Congress ever received was 84% in October 2001, shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
According to Gallup, Congress began the year with a 23% job approval rating, and it stayed at about that level through March.