Republicans control the House. Democrats control the Senate. And neither party's members are happy about the way things are going.

That's the shorthand takeaway from a new Gallup poll that shows Republicans and Democrats expressing similarly high levels of distrust in the legislative branch. Independents are even more distrustful.

With Republicans in serious pursuit of Senate majority and House Republicans firmly in control of their majority, the four-year run of a divided Congress could very realistically come to an end in January 2015. If that happens, opinions about Congress would probably become much more polarized than they have been.

The following Gallup chart shows why. Right now, just 35 percent of Republicans and 31 percent of Democrats have a "great deal" or "fair amount" of trust in the legislative branch -- very similar views. There hasn't been much daylight between the two sides since 2011, when Republicans took control the House and ended Democrats' complete control of Capitol Hill following the 2010 midterms.

But what about when Democrats controlled both chambers? The parties, unsurprisingly, held very different views. In 2009, 65 percent of Democrats had a "great deal" or "fair amount" of trust in Congress but just 32 percent of Republicans felt the same way.

Rewind to 2005, when Republicans controlled both chambers, and we see another divide. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans had a "great deal" or "fair amount" of trust, while just 55 percent of Democrat said the same thing.

So if Senate Republicans gain at least six seats in November and win the majority, and the House majority doesn't change, we can reasonably expect that Republican opinions of Congress will go up and Democrats' opinions will go down. And what about independents? Recent history shows they will probably be among least satisfied of anyone.

What to make of the data? Well, one takeaway is that while divided government -- or at least a divided Congress -- may seem like a compromise, it's certainly not a happy compromise. Both parties are equally distrustful of Congress. And independents don't like the way things are going when power is split between the two major parties.

The fact that Republicans and Democrats have dug in their heels and almost nothing gets done probably fuels the across-the-board dissatisfaction.

A divided Congress keeps both parties in check. But it leaves most people less than thrilled.