Poll: Americans Give Congress 24% Job Approval Rating

Americans' approval rating of Congress dropped to 24 percent, according to a new Gallup Poll.

Here are the survey highlights:

• 67 percent of those surveyed disapprove of the job Congress is doing, while 9 percent had no opinion.
• 43 percent of Republicans approve of Congress' job performance, compared to 12 percent of Democrats and 22 percent of independents.

"Congressional job approval declined slightly from 28 percent in February to 24 percent in March," Gallup said in its poll report. "The March rating is still higher than any month from June 2011 through Jan. 2017.

It noted the highest level of approval in the last 10 years was 39 percent in March 2009 after President Barack Obama was sworn in.

"February's uptick in support for Congress stemmed from a surge in approval among Republicans," Gallup said. "This most likely reflected their hopefulness for Congress and the presidency as the nation's capital was turned over to Republicans after several years of divided government. Likewise, the retreat of approval in March reflects a slight easing of Republican exuberance.

"The spike in Republican support may be due to hope for progress on the GOP agenda now that a president is in place who would sign conservative bills. If Congress does not live up to these expectations soon, approval of the legislative branch could retreat to below 20 percent, as it did in Obama's second year in office until the end of his presidency."

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