In the poll, Republicans came off much worse than Democrats. | AP Photos Poll: Blame hits GOP in Congress

A record number of Americans say most members of Congress should be voted out of office in 2012 — and that frustration is especially focused on incumbent Republicans, a new poll Thursday shows.

A whopping 67 percent of voters say they want most members off the Hill, according to the Pew Research Center poll. And Republicans are by far the most vulnerable: Half of all Americans say the current Congress has accomplished less than others, and 40 percent say Republican leaders are to blame, while just 23 percent of those polled say Democratic leaders are responsible.


And Republicans should not expect reelection support from their base — seven in 10 Republicans say most members should be replaced. Meanwhile, almost three-fourths of independent voters, or 73 percent, want to vote out most members, and 60 percent of Democrats agree.

At a Thursday morning press conference, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the frustration expressed in the poll stems from the United States’ divided government.

“Welcome to divided government,” Boehner said. “The American people provided a Republican House, a Democrat Senate and a Democrat in the White House. And as a result, we’ve got to work overtime to try and find common ground to do what the American people sent us here to do. It’s not easy, it’s not pretty, but it’s the process our founders gave us and my job is to help make it work.”

When looking at Congress, the poll found a majority of Americans agree: It’s the members, not the political system, that is the problem. Just 32 percent say that members have good intentions but the political system is broken, while 55 percent say it’s the members who are to blame.

And of those members, Republicans come off much worse than Democrats, the poll found.

More than half of those surveyed, or 53 percent, see the GOP as the more extreme of the two parties, as well as the party that is less honest and ethical and less willing to work with the other side. And for the first time in two years, the poll revealed, the Democratic Party is viewed by more Americans — 41 percent — as better able to manage the federal government.

Members should be very worried about their reelection prospects: The 50 percent who want their own member to lose in 2012 is the same percentage as the all-time high recorded in 2010, when 58 members lost their reelection bids.

Pew Research Center for the People & the Press surveyed 1,521 adults from Dec. 7-11. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

- Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.