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#Congress is still not popular

By Leigh Ann Caldwell, CNN
updated 3:45 PM EDT, Wed August 27, 2014
  • Congress pegged as less popular than cockroaches, the IRS and eating vegetables
  • A new round of political jokes surfaces as the House and Senate begin their August recess
  • A new poll found that 3% of those surveyed thought Congress has been "productive"

(CNN) -- Its lack of productivity and partisan drama ensure that Congress remains the butt of political jokes.

It has been pegged as less popular than lice, cockroaches, the IRS and eating vegetables.

A new round of derision surfaced as the House and Senate began their August recess, leaving mounds of unfinished business in their wake.

Arguably the most pressing thing is stalled legislation to address the surge of migrant youth, many of them unaccompanied, across the southern border this year.

(Congress did get some things done in the final days before its summer break. It agreed to keep road construction projects funded through next May, provide more money for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, and overhaul the Veterans Affairs medical system).

But fresh polls confirm that Congress is not doing a whole lot of legislating and the public doesn't like it.

A new poll Monday by NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist College found that only 3% of registered voters surveyed thought Congress has been "productive."

And the Pew Research Center found that this Congress has been the least productive one since 1997-98.

Finally, a July Gallup poll found that Congress had a 15% approval rating.

Polls convey public opinion scientifically, but the freewheeling nature of social media produced similar sentiment.

An executive at the libertarian Cato Institute pointed out that Congress and President Barack Obama are less popular than the most disliked Star Wars characters.

But everyone loves Internet news.

Take some advice with that criticism, Congress.

Obviously. Same-sex marriage is getting more popular. So is pot. And the United States just might be turning into a soccer country. Congress, still not that likable, though.

Although this tweet was before the CIA admitted to spying on the Senate committee in charge of overseeing the spy agency.

One thing more popular than Congress: Obama, who is not very popular.

Perhaps this is some insight into why Congress is so unlikable right now.

The good news. There's little place to go but up.