Americans are not impressed with Republicans right now. While President Obama's approval rating has ticked up two points this month, the GOP has seen their popularity drop to its lowest levels ever.
By a margin of 22 percent, respondents in the latest NBC/WSJ poll blame Republicans over the White House for the government shutdown.
Also on the country's bad side? Congress writ large. Public Policy Polling found that 85 percent of respondents disapprove of our chief legislative body's job performance.
Just to hit the point home of how bad a position the House is in, let's look at what people have said in the past about a few things people currently like better than Congress.
Witches: "Her mind will always be plotting and scheming and churning and burning and whizzing and phizzing with murderous bloodthirsty thoughts." Respondents preferred witches over Congress by a margin of 14 percentage points.
Cockroaches: "Catching sight of a cockroach usually inspires one of a short list of fairly predictable human reactions: a scream, a churn of the stomach, or a swift stamp of the foot in the critter's direction. Or all three." Respondents preferred cockroaches by a margin of two percentage points.
Hipsters: "Get the hell out of my city." Respondents preferred hipsters by a margin ofnine percentage points.
The IRS: "The I.R.S. has demonstrated the most disturbing, illegal and outrageous abuse of government power." Respondents preferred the IRS by a margin of nine percentage points.
Jury duty: "It ranks among the more dreaded phrases in the English language." Respondents preferred the IRS by a margin of 55 percentage points.
Wall Street: "These frauds are worse than common robberies. They're crimes of intellectual choice, made by people who are already rich and who have every conceivable social advantage, acting on a simple, cynical calculation: Let's steal whatever we can, then dare the victims to find the juice to reclaim their money." Respondents preferred Wall Street by a margin of 31 percentage points.
The DMV: "Most everyone who works in my local D.M.V. is rude. These folks should be sent to some sort of customer service training course. And if they aren't pleasant to people, then dismiss them." Respondents preferred the DMV by a margin of 34 percentage points.
However, Congress must be heartened to learn that the country would rather deal with them than Miley Cyrus or ebola.
If the shutdown doesn't end soon though, a preference for twerking or certain death over congressional Mean Girls on repeat might not be too far off.
