Disenchantment with all sorts of politicians calls voter turnout into question. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Pollsters: 'Everything is terrible'

Polls from major networks, researchers and newspapers agree: America’s in a bad mood.

In just one week, polls found politicians of all stripes are hitting approval numbers with record lows. The president finds himself roughly as popular as a trip to the dentist. The entire Democratic Party gets the thumbs down. Oh, and so does the Republican Party.


But it doesn’t stop there. Americans are also bummed out about the future in general, especially the economy. Things are so low that even an old favorite, sugar, polled poorly.

Pollsters say it all adds up to a country that feels “everything is terrible,” as one put it, a mood that campaigns should consider as they head into the midterm homestretch, when turnout should be all about enthusiasm — not pessimism.

( See the latest congressional polls from POLITICO's Polling Center)

“With an ‘everything is terrible’ mindset, I’m mostly thinking about how after several years of cantankerous and unproductive lawmaking in Washington, there are very few political figures or institutions who the public trusts anymore,” Scott Clement, The Washington Post’s polling analyst, said in an interview.

When it comes to candidates, voters are also less than thrilled with both incumbents and their challengers.

“What we’re really seeing in an unprecedented way, especially in the key Senate races, is that voters don’t like either of the major candidates,” said Tom Jensen, the director of the left-leaning Public Policy Polling.

Jensen pointed to Arkansas, Louisiana, Alaska and North Carolina, where Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan remains ahead. However, Jensen said it’s not because of high approval ratings.

( Also on POLITICO: Poll: Party favorability falls near record low)

“Hagan has a -10 approval rating, and usually if you have a -10 approval rating it means you’re doomed,” Jensen said. But, he added, Hagan’s Republican challenger, Thom Tillis, “has a -23 favorability rating, so that race remains very competitive despite Hagan being an unpopular incumbent, because voters really don’t care for her opponent, either.”

The pollster added, “to a much greater extent than usual this year, with voters being so unhappy, ‘so-and-so’ has a negative approval rating, but they still lead for reelection because people like the alternative even less.”

Not even hometown political heroes are spared.

Members of Congress “are no longer at the point where they get the benefit of the doubt from the public,” Clement said. “And the public has seen more and more issues where they’re just not happy about where things are going, and the place they often look to blame is Washington.”

( Also on POLITICO: The most popular guy in Washington)

In a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Tuesday, the paper found, for the first time in 25 years, that a majority of people disapprove of the job their own Congress member is doing. Clement said while people might have said Congress as a whole is doing a poor job, voters are “not willing to let their own Congress member off the hook anymore.”

But the ill will toward Congress and President Barack Obama is nothing new, said Sarah Dutton, director of surveys for CBS News, which found near-historic lows for each party’s approval rating in its poll last week.

“It’s been low for quite some time,” Dutton said of Congress’ approval rating. “However, it’s now lower than it was in previous midterm elections.”

So what does this mean come November? Across the board, pollsters note that it throws turnout levels into question. Jensen said anger toward their own candidates coupled with anger for the opposition leaves little for voters to get particularly excited about. Two groups that could see an impact, however, are independent voters and third-party candidates.

( Also on POLITICO: Poll: Obama sinks on foreign policy)

Jensen said the GOP in particular is seeing growing levels of disenchantment. However, while more Republican voters may be seeing red, Jensen says, that doesn’t mean they’ll vote that way this midterm cycle.

“What Republicans do have to be worried about is [voters] turning to a more conservative, third-party candidate,” the pollster said, pointing to Montana’s 2012 Senate race, which saw a victory for Democrat Sen. Jon Tester. Jensen attributed Tester’s win to a split among GOP voters between the Republican and Libertarian candidates.

Jensen added that the GOP shouldn’t expect to see a gap against Democrats in the 2014 midterms similar to that in the 2010 wave, nor tea party enthusiasm.

Additionally, NBC News’ Mark Murray said there could be a noted absence among independent voters. They seem to be “tuning out from the election,” and their enthusiasm is not mirroring the levels seen in 2006 and 2010, he said. However, this might not spell disaster for all campaigns.

“If the middle of the country decides not to participate, then you end up having a simple base election, which makes it much easier for incumbents to hold on,” Murray said.

Murray said the outlet’s pollsters were struck by “just how angry the American public is right now,” but he added that the increasing number of issues may be another factor that aids incumbents seeking reelection.

An NBC poll with The Wall Street Journal, also released Tuesday, saw record-low job approval rates for Obama and dismal numbers for Congress. But with plenty of blame to go around and plenty of issues angering voters, lawmakers are all feeling the heat, rather than one member or party being a target of disdain.

“The one mitigating factor here is that there are so many different reasons for their dissatisfaction,” Murray said, adding that only a small number of lawmakers have been defeated in primaries so far. “You have Republicans complaining about immigration, Democrats complaining that Congress isn’t working with them, Republicans wanting to impeach the president, Democrats blaming Congress, and all of these different complaints don’t really measure up to one single unifying message that probably is going to have every member of Congress running for the hills this election season.”

Unlike the case with the 2011 debt ceiling dispute and 2013’s government shutdown, Murray noted, “When you have a thousand different complaints, it’s hard to enact a lot of change at the ballot box.”

Clement, echoing Murray, said congressmen and congresswomen are “not really at risk.”

This, paired with the expectation that Washington gridlock and a slew of issues such as the economy and immigration reform will not be solved anytime soon, means voters are likely to be the biggest losers in November.

There’s a silver lining for Obama, who Murray said has been “taking a lot of lumps” on foreign policy issues such as Ukraine, Iraq and the Middle East. These issues aren’t as long-lasting as a “a cataclysmic economic recession” would be, Murray said. However, according to a Gallup poll released last week, voters are also pessimistic about the economy.

Other folks who can rest easy? Potential 2016 contenders. A Quinnipiac University poll last week showed that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s net approval rating dropped to its lowest point in three years, but Jensen said the Republican governor is an outlier, attributing his disapproval to conservatives who still dislike Christie’s closeness with Obama ahead of the 2012 elections and following Hurricane Sandy.

While some point to the fact that none of the possible GOP contenders is leading the pack, Jensen said that, unlike 2012, where no candidate could rally the base, Republican voters are finding it hard to pick between the likes of Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush or former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. As for Democrats’ enthusiasm, Jensen said that will depend largely on whether Hillary Clinton announces a bid.

And Dutton, along with the other pollsters, said it remains up in the air whether things well get better anytime soon for voters.

“I think this malaise that we’ve seen for the past few years, we’ll just have to keep watching it,” Dutton said.