Congressional job approval holds steady

PRINCETON, N.J., May 12 (UPI) -- Americans' opinion of Congress remained steady for the past three months at a 37 percent approval rating, a Gallup Poll released Tuesday indicates.

The latest poll isn't significantly different from polls taken in March and April, but all three samplings are higher than the average job approval rating of 19 percent for all of 2008, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said.

Congressional job approval tanked to an all-time low of 14 percent in July, which also recorded a 75 percent disapproval rating, Gallup said. Approval percentages crept up during the fall and into January. Approval jumped by 12 points in February, after President Barack Obama and the new House and Senate began their work in earnest.

Pollsters said approval moved up slightly in March, and has remained fairly constant since.

Job approval ratings broke along party lines, Gallup said. Democrats' approval was above 50 percent, while independents and Republicans were less positive.

Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews with 1,015 respondents conducted Thursday-Sunday. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.