Poll: Congress less popular among voters

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PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Americans' approval of Congress was dismal in September, with just 18 percent now approving the job lawmakers are doing, a Gallup poll indicates.

Results of the Gallup/USA Today poll released Monday indicate the drop in approval of Congress since the beginning of 2009 closely parallels the dive in approval for President Barack Obama for the same period.

Both the president and the Democratic-led Congress saw a sharp slide in their public approval ratings last summer, punctuated by a sharp drop in October. Their ratings subsequently leveled off, but fell slightly further this summer, and remain at the lower level today.

Congress's current approval rating is now approaching Gallup's record low of 14 percent, recorded in July 2008, and already is worse than its lowest in a midterm election year, 21 percent in 1994 and 2006, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said.

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,019 adults conducted Sept. 13-16. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.