Congress may be in for a huge midterm shakeup, according to this one dire sign

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

Congress is horribly unpopular — so much so that another massive midterm upheaval could be on the way.

Just 16 percent of Americans approve of Congress' job performance, the lowest mark in any midterm year since at least 1974, according to Gallup. And as Gallup notes — and as you can probably intuit — dismal approval ratings in election years tend to coincide with anti-incumbent waves. For instance, in 2010, barely one-fifth of Americans approved of Congress; 54 House and three Senate incumbents got the boot.

As Eric Cantor's stunning primary loss showed, voters are indeed discontented enough with the state of affairs in D.C. to trigger significant electoral change. Other incumbents take note: You could be next.

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Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.