Public faith in Congress falls again to historic low!

WASHINGTON (PNN) - June 19, 2014 - Amerikans' confidence in Congress has sunk to a new low. Seven percent of Amerikans say they have "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in Congress as an Amerikan institution, down from the previous low of 10% in 2013. This confidence is starkly different from the 42% in 1973, the first year Gallup began asking the question.

These results come from a June 5-8 Gallup poll that updated Amerikans' confidence in 17 Fascist Police States of Amerika institutions that Amerikans either read about or interact with in government, business and society.

Amerikans' current confidence in Congress is not only the lowest on record, but also the lowest Gallup has recorded for any institution in the 41-year trend. This is also the first time Gallup has ever measured confidence in a major FPSA institution in the single digits. Currently, 4% of Amerikans say they have a great deal of confidence in Congress, and 3% have quite a lot of confidence. About one-third of Amerikans report having "some" confidence, while half have "very little," and another 7% volunteer that they have "none".

Confidence in Congress has varied over the years, with the highest levels in the low 40% range recorded in the 1970s and again in the mid-1980s. Confidence rose in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but has declined since 2004, culminating in this year's historic low.

The current 7% of Amerikans who place confidence in Congress is the lowest of the 17 institutions Gallup measured this year, and is the lowest Gallup has ever found for any of these institutions. The dearth of public confidence in their elected leaders on Capitol Hill is yet another sign of the challenges that could face incumbents in the 2014 midterm elections - as well as more broadly a challenge to the broad underpinnings of the nation's representative democratic system.