The telephone poll of 1,019 adults Aug. 13-16 found 76 of respondents fully disapprove of the job Congress is doing.

The 18 percent approval ties the lowest record set in March 1992 when Washington was in the midst of a check-bouncing scandal, Gallup said. During the energy crisis in the summer of 1979, approval was at 19 percent.

The approval rating fell 9 percentage points since July.

By party, 21 percent of Democrats approved of Congress versus 18 percent of Republicans and 17 percent of independents.

Since the Princeton, N.J., firm began the congressional poll in 1974, the majority of polls have shown about 50 percent approval. The highest on record was 84 percent, which was one month after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the agency said.

The poll had a 3 percentage-point margin of error.