Politics | Congress Congress' New Approval Rating Low: 9% Just when you thought 11% rating couldn't go lower... By Matt Cantor Posted Oct 26, 2011 8:14 AM CDT Updated Oct 29, 2011 7:00 PM CDT Copied Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., whispers to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, during a photo opportunity in the House Speaker's office. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg) Congress’ approval ratings have sunk to their lowest since CBS and the New York Times started keeping track in 1977: Just 9% of Americans now approve of the job Congress is doing, down from 11% last month. Only a tenth of Americans trust the government to make generally sound decisions, compared to 23% last year. And the anger is spread across party lines. Some 84% overall disapprove of the job Congress is doing; that breaks down into 83% of Republicans, 83% of Democrats, and 85% of independents. As for President Obama, his approval rating remains less than 50%, though at 46% it has climbed two percentage points from September. The same figure, 46%, disapprove of Obama’s work as president. Perhaps his Leno appearance will change some minds. Read These Next Isolated tribe members show up in an unexpected place. Trump just used a spending maneuver last seen nearly 50 years ago. Naomi Osaki is fully on Taylor Townsend's side in this spat. A government watchdog is warning the FAA about meteorologists. Report an error