How low can Congress go?

By Lisa Mascaro

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 | 12:34 p.m.

WASHINGTON — Congress' approval rating dipped to single-digit terrain Tuesday for the first time, with just 9 percent of those surveyed telling Rasmussmen Reports that Capitol Hill is doing a good job.

The news was delivered to inboxes this morning thanks Freedom’s Watch, the conservative-leaning political group funded in part by Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson, which gleaned it from The Drudge Report.

But as bad as 9 percent approval rating sounds, consider the reaction it brought from the Cook Political Report, political handicappers also here in Washington.

“It’s a meaningless statistic,” said Cook’s David Wasserman who specializes in House races.

Cook’s crew is among those politicos who tend to stay away from polls like this, which they say use automated calls that are less reliable than personal phone interviews.

Wasserman says better to survey a range of polls to judge the landscape. Sounds similar to the advice in the Sun piece this weekend by my colleague J. Patrick Coolican.

Using that insight as a guide, four polls www.pollingreport.com/CongJob.htm in June showed approval in a range from 13 to 23 percent. Two of those polls put it at 19 percent. Rasmussen says the 9 percent rating is the lowest it has ever tracked for Congress. Rasmussen’s polls show Congress hasn’t broken 15 percent since early 2008.

Still, Wasserman agrees there’s no love lost between the public and Congress _ which he says is mostly a reflection of the public’s negative attitude toward Washington overall.

The approval rating, Wasserman said, “is in the gutter and I think that’s well established.” He added: “I don’t doubt it could be the lowest in history.”