Americans’ views of Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanAt indoor rally, Pence says election runs through Wisconsin Juan Williams: Breaking down the debates Peterson faces fight of his career in deep-red Minnesota district MORE (R-Wis.) and the Republican Congress are in decline, according to a new poll.

The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll published Monday found that 40 percent of voters have a negative view of the Wisconsin Republican, compared with 22 percent who have a positive view.

The 18-point gap represents a major shift since February, when unfavorable opinions of the Speaker outweighed positive ones by just 1 percentage point.

The growing dissatisfaction with Ryan coincides with increasing disapproval of the Republican-controlled Congress.

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Nearly three-fourths of Americans in the poll disapprove of the performance of Congress. The disapproval rating has spiked 12 points since February.

Only one-fifth of Americans approve of Congress’s performance, a 9-point decline since February.

The new poll follows House Republicans' failed attempt to pass legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare. Lack of support for the bill forced Ryan to pull the legislation before a scheduled vote.

Republicans haven't given up on passing a healthcare bill but are now faced with a pressing deadline to fund the government. If a funding bill isn't passed by the end of Friday, the government will shut down.

The poll was based on telephone interviews of 900 adults surveyed from April 17 to 20. The margin of error is 3.27 percentage points.