Americans give low marks to Congress’ leaders, poll shows

Americans’ views of the top four leaders in Congress are in the dumps, a new poll finds.

Gallup says the top lawmakers in the House — Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat — and the top two men in the Senate — Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican — each face “unfavorable” ratings that are 14 to 17 points below their “favorable” score.

Mr. McConnell, who is facing re-election this year, has the deepest gap, at 23 percent favorable and 40 percent unfavorable, although he also chalked up the greatest share of people who have never heard of him or have no opinion of him (37 percent).

“Gallup has yet to measure a net positive score for McConnell since first asking about him in March 2010,” the pollsters said.

Mr. Boehner and Mr. Reid each have a minus-14 percent rating, and Mrs. Pelosi comes in at minus-16 percent.

The House leaders each enjoyed generally positive ratings in the period between 2007 and 2011, but their favorability has declined since then.

Mr. Reid had a plus-8 percent favorability in 2006 but “has not received a positive net favorable since 2007,” Gallup said.