Up for Reelection

I read that Congressional approval ratings are at an all time low. I know that things in Washington are a mess right now, but I still find that hard to believe. I mean: All time low. You'd think that people would have disliked Congress more during the Great Depression. I wonder if non-famous members of Congress lie about their occupations when they're at parties where they don't know people. "What do you do?" "Oh...I work at a Washington think tank." That kind of behavior would make life easier for them, and I can't imagine that it would hurt their reelection prospects.