Reid has lowest approval rating among congressional leaders, poll finds

Reid has lowest approval rating among congressional leaders, poll finds
By Mario Trujillo - 09-20-13 04:25 PM ET

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) holds the lowest net approval rating among House and Senate leadership — but others are not far behind.

According to a Gallup poll released Friday, Reid's approval rating is 33 percent with 53 percent disapproving of his job performance, leaving him with a net rating of negative 20 percent.

Speaker John Boehner (Ohio), who leads the Republican majority in the House, holds a net approval rating of negative 17 percent, with 37 percent of people approving while 54 percent disapprove.

Both minority leaders in the House and Senate hold a net approval rating of negative 12 percent.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has a 35 percent approval rating, while 37 percent disapprove of him. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has the approval of 39 percent of people, but 51 percent disapprove.

The poll comes as Congress bumps up against a duo of fiscal deadlines, one to fund the government and another to raise the debt ceiling in mid-October. Congressional leaders have been at loggerheads about how to proceed.

The House passed a continuing resolution to fund the government Friday that included a measure to defund ObamaCare. The Senate will likely strip the ObamaCare language before sending it back to the House.

Most of the approval ratings break down along party lines. Nowhere is that clearer than with Pelosi, who holds 83 percent disapproval among Republicans while 65 percent of Democrats approve.

However, McConnell holds higher approval ratings with his Democratic rivals than with his own party. Thirty-three percent of Republicans and independents approve of McConnell, while 41 percent of Democrats feel the same.

His disapproval rating hangs around 48 percent among all groups.

McConnell faces a tough reelection in 2014, with a primary challenger running to his right.

Gallup notes that Americans have historically given their congressional leaders poor approval numbers, and all their ratings still hover above Congress’s overall approval rating of 19 percent.

The Gallup poll surveyed 794 adults on Sept. 5-8 with a 4 percentage point margin of error.