Americans have never actually liked Congress

According to Gallup, public approval of Congress has dipped to 33 percent:

It’s always worth noting that these things don’t actually matter that much.  As you can see from graph, Americans have always held lukewarm feelings about Congress.  Indeed, Congress’ stature only really grows when there is some external shock to the system or in times when there is decent economic growth (the 1990s, 9/11).  My guess is that this is simply one of the many ancillary effects of an outsized presidency.  The president has been the dominant institutional figure for more than half a century, and to many Americans, might as well be Congress is almost an unnecessary adjunct.  In the real world, Congress passes legislation and the president signs it, but in the world of public opinion, the president can claim virtually all of the responsibility for good legislation.  This, in turn, creates the impression that Congress doesn’t really do anything (which may actually be the case, at times).  Of course, I don’t have any actual data to back up these assertions, but it does make some logical sense.