Congress' approval rating down to 10%– – Do you approve of Congress?

Congress'
already-dismal approval rating sank again this month, tying its all
time low of 10 percent, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday.

"Americans'
views of Congress are so bad that it has now been more than a year
since Gallup's monthly assessment was as high as 20 percent," a Gallup
analysis said.

Gallup said it was difficult to pinpoint exactly
why the rating had tied its low mark, recorded in February. The pollster
has been asking about Congress for 38 years.

The economy, it
said, is a major reason for the low marks, and "the fact that control of
Congress is now divided, with a Republican majority in the House and a
Democratic majority in the Senate, may provide an opportunity for
Americans of all political persuasions to dislike some aspect of
Congress."

Congress left last week for an extended summer recess,
and plans to be back in mid-September. Lawmakers are not expected to
approve a formal budget for the 2013 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1,
and are not seen as taking action on a number of major fiscal issues,
such as extending the expiring Bush era tax cuts, until after the
November election.

It's hard to say what effect the low rating
will have on this fall's congressional elections, Gallup said.
Independent analysts do not expect much of a shakeup, since each party's
loyalists tend to blame the other side for the inertia.

Gallup surveyed 1,102 adults from August 9 to 12. Margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.