Congress averages 15 percent approval rating in 2014

Congress has averaged an approval rating of 15 percent in 2014 — close to the record-low 14 percent yearly average last year, Gallup said.

The approval rating has average less than 20 percent each year since 2010; in 2009, President Obama’s first year in office, an average of 30 percent approved, according to Gallup.

Before 2008, Congress’s job approval had been below 20 percent just twice over a 40-year history of Gallup’s measure, in 1979 and 1992. The highest yearly average was in 2001, at 56 percent.

This past year, Congress’s approval ratings averaged 15 percent among both Republicans and Democrats and 14 percent among independents.

The current monthly rating, from Dec. 8-11, is 16 percent approval, down from a slightly higher 20 percent approval rating from just before the midterm elections — the only time Congress’s monthly approval rating has reached 20 percent over the last two years.

Gallup’s Rebecca Riffkin wrote that approval might increase when the new GOP-led Congress is sworn in next month as Americans identifying as Republicans become more positive, which happened when Republican approval of Congress increased in 1995 and Democratic approval jumped in 2007.

The December survey of 805 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.