Congress sinks to all-time low in CNN polling

Congressional approval ratings are at an all-time low in Monday’s CNN poll.

Washington (CNN) — As the hours wind down toward a possible government shutdown because of a bitter partisan battle over the new health care law, the approval rating for Congress is plummeting to historic lows.

And a CNN/ORC International poll indicates that it’s not just Congress and its top leaders that are making history for all the wrong reasons, but also the tea party movement and the Democratic and Republican parties, too.

According to a survey released Monday afternoon, just 10% of Americans say they approve of the job Congress is doing, an all-time low in a CNN poll. And 87% say they disapprove of the job federal lawmakers are doing, higher than it’s ever been in CNN polling.

The 10% approval rating in the new CNN survey, which was conducted Friday through Sunday, is down 10 percentage points from CNN’s previous survey at the beginning of the month. The 87% disapproval rating is a jump of nine points from the first week in September.

While Americans’ perception of the job Congress is doing has taken a hit, President Barack Obama’s approval rating — well under 50% — has remained steady since earlier in the month.

Forty-four percent of those questioned say they approve of the job Obama’s doing as president, with 53% giving him a thumbs down. Those numbers are basically unchanged from the 45%-52% approval/disapproval rating in CNN’s previous survey.