Looking at the latest favorability figures is enough to establish that congress is wildly unpopular.

Only 9% of Americans have a favorable opinion of congress compared with 85% who do not.

But for those of us who need a little illustration to get the point across, Public Policy Polling has come up with an imaginative way [PDF] of making it abundantly clear just how despised the country's legislative body is at the moment.

The Raleigh-based polling firm called up 830 American households over the past week and asked them to choose between congress and a series of other popularly detested thing.

The good news for congress is that it managed to beat out such loathsome anathemas as the Kardashians (49% to 36%), Lindsay Lohan (45% to 41%), and gonorrhea (53% to 28%).

However, the bad news is that lawmakers were no match for cockroaches (45% to 43%), head lice (67% to 19%) and NFL replacement refs (56% to 29%).

"We all know Congress is unpopular," PPP President Dean Debnam said in a statement. "But the fact that voters like it even less than cockroaches, lice, and Genghis Khan really shows how far its esteem has fallen with the American public over the last few weeks."

[photo via AP]