A new poll by the New York Times finds very bad news for Congress:

A record 82 percent of Americans now disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job — the most since The Times first began asking the question in 1977, and even more than after another political stalemate led to a shutdown of the federal government in 1995.

More than four out of five people surveyed said that the recent debt-ceiling debate was more about gaining political advantage than about doing what is best for the country. Nearly three-quarters said that the debate had harmed the image of the United States in the world.

A poorly rated Congress was one of the key talking points of the 2010 mid-terms. Republican candidates and pundits constantly talked about the poor ratings of Congress and how they would work harder for the people and turn that around. Well guess what? We have another broken promise. While the public views both parties very unfavorably in the debt crisis, the GOP does get more of the blame:

Republicans in Congress shoulder more of the blame for the difficulties in reaching a debt-ceiling agreement than President Obama and the Democrats, the poll found.

The Republicans compromised too little, a majority of those polled said. All told, 72 percent disapproved of the way Republicans in Congress handled the negotiations, while 66 percent disapproved of the way Democrats in Congress handled negotiations.

But the biggest part of this poll gives bad news to the Tea Party:

The public’s opinion of the Tea Party movement has soured in the wake of the debt-ceiling debate. The Tea Party is now viewed unfavorably by 40 percent of the public and favorably by just 20 percent, according to the poll. In mid-April 29 percent of those polled viewed the movement unfavorably, while 26 percent viewed it favorably. And 43 percent of Americans now think the Tea Party has too much influence on the Republican Party, up from 27 percent in mid-April.

The right and big business created a monster in the Tea Party and now they can’t control it. It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out in 2012. It could really spell troubles for the Republicans, especially as they try to retake the Senate.