Our unpopular Congress

A January Post-ABC poll showed Congress’s approval at 13 percent — nearly an all-time low. You’d be surprised at some of the things in history that have been more popular than the current Congress.

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According to a recent Gallup poll, Congress's approval rating has reached an all-time low of 11 percent. Here are some surprising things from recent history that were more popular than the current Congress.

Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

Polygamy

Polygamy is about as popular as Congress, according to The Atlantic Cities. Both have an 11 percent approval rating. (In this image, the cast of the HBO series, "Big Love.")

Lacey Terrell / AP

Paris Hilton

The heiress and former reality star had a 15 percent approval rating in 2005, four points higher than the current approval rating for Congress. That's hot.

Jason Merritt / GETTY IMAGES

Caning

Shortly before American teenager Michael Fay was caned for theft and vandalism in Singapore in 1994, a Los Angeles Times poll found that 36 percent of Americans supported caning as a form of punishment for teenage vandals in the United States.

Heri Juanda / AP

BP's handling of the Gulf oil spill

Congress is about as popular as BP was during the summer of 2010, after an explosion of one of its rigs caused millions of barrels of oil to spew into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil company’s approval rating in June 2010 was 13 percent, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll, just one percentage point behind our current Congress.

Gerald Herbert / AP

Animal cloning

According to an ABC/Beliefnet poll in August 2001, 37 percent of Americans said cloning animals should be legal.

John Chadwick / Associated Press

Women wearing shorts in public

Believe it or not, a 1951 Gallup poll found that only 21 percent of Americans approved of women in their community wearing shorts in public in hot weather — but even that's still better than Congress right now.

Dana Felthauser / Associated Press

Human cloning

Even cloning humans for scientific purposes has been found to be more popular than Congress. According to a 2002 Pew Research Center poll, 17 percent of Americans supported scientific experiments on human cloning.

Anonymous / Associated Press

Bush at his nadir

President George W. Bush's popularity took a sharp dip after the 2008 financial crisis. A Washington Post/ABC News poll found his job approval rating reached a record low of 23 percent in October 2008. That's slightly lower than Richard Nixon's 24 percent approval rating when he resigned in August 1974, according to Gallup, but it's still much better than this Congress.

Charles Dharapak / Associated Press

Still more popular than Hugo Chavez

Congress remains more popular in the U.S. than Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has a nine percent approval rating among U.S. citizens, according to a 2007 Gallup poll.

HO / REUTERS

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Paula and Clay Gustin become emotional as dozens of balloons float above during a memorial Wednesday, May 23, 2012, for their five-year-old son, Rhett, who died in an accident on May 20. (AP Photo/The Coeur D?Alene Press, Shawn Gust) MANDATORY CREDIT

Fleet Week, solar impulse plane, artificial heart, Air Force academy graduation and more in the day in photos

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Red Panda Bears sleep in the Panda Bear enclosure at the Beijing Zoo on May 22, 2012. The zoo grounds were originally a Ming Dynasty imperial palace and finally opened to the public in 1908. The zoo's history states that during the WWII, most of the zoo's animals died of starvation with only 13 monkeys and one old emu surviving the war. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTONMARK RALSTON/AFP/GettyImages

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CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 24: Actress Macy Gray attend the 'The Paperboy' photocall during the 65th Annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 24, 2012 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

Eye on entertainment

Macy Gray, Zac Efron, Philip Phillips, Fantasia Barrino, Neil Diamond and other celebrities.

‘Dancing with the Stars’

Season 14 of “Dancing With the Stars.”

May 21, 2012: Members of the Naval Academy freshman class (plebes) lock arms and form a human ladder while climbing the Herndon Monument at the United States Naval Academy on May 21, 2012 in Annapolis, Md. Each year members of the Naval Academy's freshman class (plebes) climb the lard covered 21-foot tall Herndon Monument to replace a plebe dixie cup hat with a midshipman's hat at the top of the obelisk.

Teamwork, discipline help plebes get to the top

At the U.S. Naval Academy, the freshman class attempts to climb the Herndon Monument.

The National Zoo has two new additions: the female cheetah cub, left, and her brother on the right.

The National Zoo’s new cheetah cubs

A dramatic rescue saved these two cheetah babies and their distressed mother giving birth.

JOPLIN, MO - MAY 19: Grace Goebel plays outside of the new Habitat for Humanity home of her parents that was built on the spot of a home that had been destroyed after a tornado hit the neighborhood almost one year ago on May 19, 2012 in Joplin, Missouri. Tuesday will mark the one-year anniversary of the EF-5 tornado that devastated the town. The tornado left behind a path of destruction along with 161 deaths and hundreds of injuries, but one year later there are signs that the town is beginning to recover. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Joplin, Missouri, one year after tornadoes devastate town

Reminders of destruction are everywhere in Joplin, Mo., a year after a killer tornado.

COLLEGE PARK, MD - APRIL 4: Pet acupuncturist Greta McVey puts needles in mixed breed 'Cashew' at her home office in College Park, MD on April 4, 2012. Cashew was rescued by his owner this past December and suffers from anxiety and fear of abandonment. McVey first licensed as an acupuncturist on humans then went on to be certified on animals. She hosts a variety of clientele, anything from birds, to guinea pigs but mainly treats dogs and cats. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

Washington’s ‘pet-u-puncture whisperer’

College Park’s Greta McVey is part of the growing industry focused on veterinary acupuncture.

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Politics

Our unpopular Congress

A January Post-ABC poll showed Congress’s approval at 13 percent — nearly an all-time low. You’d be surprised at some of the things in history that have been more popular than the current Congress.

Featured Photo Galleries