Just one in five Americans approves of the job being done by Republicans in Congress, with Democrats not much higher at 32 percent, according to a nationwide McClatchy-Marist poll taken just as Washington voters cast primary ballots on Aug. 5.

Yet, only one incumbent House member — Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash. — took less than 50 percent of the primary vote.

It’s an ancient adage. The public disapproves of Congress, but approves of its local members.

Consider Eastern Washington. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., is a top lieutenant to House Speaker John Boehner and part of a House Republican leadership that has blocked action on immigration reform and the minimum wage.

McMorris Rodgers has been blistered by the Spokane Spokesman-Review for not supporting renewal of the U.S. Export Import Bank, which underpins thousands of trade-dependent jobs from Boeing jet sales to wine exports.

On primary day, however, McMorris Rodgers received 51.75 percent of the 5th District vote, and goes into the general election with a 33,000-vote cushion over Democratic challenger Joe Pakootas.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott was elected to the House in 1988 and has earned the nickname “congressman-for-life.” He took 76.86 percent in the August primary, and has cruised to reelection at times with more than 200,000 votes.

Republican leaders have refused to let the House vote on a bipartisan, Senate-passed immigration reform plan. But that didn’t make any difference in the 4th District, a Central Washington district that includes two majority-Hispanic counties.

The district will see an all-Republican “top two” runoff in November, with main street conservative Dan Newhouse facing Tea Party activist Clint Didier. A trio of Latino candidates received less than 20 percent of the primary vote.

In the 6th District, which includes the often-restive Olympic Peninsula, freshman U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer piled up 58.7 percent of the primary vote and led Republican challenger Marty McClendon by 34,000 votes.

The National Republican Congressional Committee put 1st District candidate Pedro Celis, a former Microsoft designer, on its “Young Guns” promising candidates list earlier in the year.

Celis barely survived the primary and staggered into the general election with 16.45 percent of the vote. Freshman Democratic Rep. Suzan DelBene took 50.67 percent, and led Celis by a whopping 40,000 votes in a district designed to be competitive.

Veteran 9th District U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., eased toward reelection with 64 percent. Despite a spat which saw Boeing Machinists withhold their endorsement, 2nd District Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., took 55.59 percent.

Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., who survived a trio of tough races in the 8th District, captured 62.5 percent in the primary. The 2010 redistricting gave Reichert a much safer district by extending the 8th across the Cascades to include Chelan and Kittitas Counties.

The only slight hints of weakness came in the 10th and 3rd Districts.

The Olympia-centered 10th District was nicknamed the “Denny district” in that it was designed for TVW co-founder and longtime state capital insider Denny Heck. He won going away in 2012.

In this year’s primary, however, Heck took 51.58 percent and was followed at 41.29 percent by Republican Joyce McDonald. A 10-point, 10,000 vote margin was as close as any incumbent was challenged in the primary.

The 3rd District, in Southwest Washington, saw Herrera Beutler take 48.83 percent of the vote. She faced another Republican in the primary along with Democrat Bob Dingethal.

Dingethal is the highest quality House challenger either party has recruited this year, with a successful business startup background and conservationist credentials. Still, after taking 37.95 percent on August 5, he faces a stiff uphill climb.

Certainly the state has first-rate lawmakers: Smith is ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee. DelBene and Kilmer have stood out as first termers; DelBene prodded and pushed the federal response to the Interstate 5 bridge collapse and the Oso mudslide.

Yet, the Washington Congressional Delegation is far less cooperative and collegial than in years gone by.

For instance, McMorris Rodgers has twice voted to renew the Export-Import Bank, whose charter is set to expire on Sept. 30. So far, even a forceful backstage dressing down by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., has failed to move her into the camp of other supporters such as Reichert.

The voters of Washington are not revolting.