Maybe Americans have learned to hate the game and not the players. But probably not.

Approval of the way Congress is handling its job ticked up to 17 percent, the highest since last July, according to the latest Gallup poll, released this morning.

That’s a bit higher than the all-time low of 10 percent in February.

Disapproval of Congress now stands at 79 percent, also the lowest disapproval number the respected polling company found since July.

Gallup noted that the upward trend in approval of Congress may be a lagging indicator of Americans’ increasing satisfaction with the way things are going generally in the United States. Republicans and Democrats view the way Congress is doing its job with about equal favorability.

The live telephone interview poll of 1,016 adults was conducted on cell phones and landlines from April 9-12. Using random digit dialing, Gallup interviewed Americans in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in English and Spanish. The poll had a margin of error of 4 points.