Despite the shuttered state of Washington, DC, in the wake of congressional gridlock, Congress is not the most unpopular institution or thing Americans can think of.

But it’s pretty darn close, particularly when rotting, brain-eating corpses out-poll the nation’s most important legislative body.

The latest poll (pdf) on Congress’ popularity shows only 8% approve of the job lawmakers are doing, according to Public Policy Polling.

Eighty-six percent disapprove.

At this level of public disgust, there are a lot of things out there that Americans will choose over Congress. These include:

• Hemorrhoids (which poll 22% over Congress)
• Potholes (+11% above Congress)
• Dog shit (+7%)

• Zombies (+6%)
• Toenail fungus (+3%)
• Cockroaches (+2%)

Stacked up against other government institutions, Congress loses against the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) by a wide margin (58%/24%) and to serving jury duty (73%/18%).

It even loses out to the Internal Revenue Service (42%/33%), although that’s because Democrats really prefer the latter (59%/23%). Republicans will still take Congress, 48% to 25%, over the IRS.

Now, there are winnable matchups for lawmakers. Americans dislike Miley Cyrus more, 46% to 31%, as well as the Ebola virus (47%/28%), Syria (51%/22%), Vladimir Putin (49%/28%) and heroin (53%/24%), among others.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Congress Losing Out to Zombies, Wall Street, and...Hipsters (Public Policy Polling)

Americans Like Witches, the IRS, and Even Hemorrhoids Better than Congress (Public Policy Polling) (pdf)

Congress Less Popular than Cockroaches, Root Canals and Used Car Salesmen (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)