Americans give the computer industry the most positive rating out of 25 business and industry sectors, while the oil and gas industry and the federal government earn the lowest ratings, finds a poll released on Thursday.

The computer industry gets a 73 percent positive rating, followed by restaurant industry's 59 percent, Internet industry's 55 percent, retail industry's 53 percent, farming and agriculture' s 52 percent, and grocery industry's 51 percent, according to the Gallup's Work and Education survey.

At the bottom of the list, the oil and gas industry gets the highest negative rating at 61 percent, followed by the federal government's 60 percent and banking sector's 53 percent, the poll finds.

Gallup has conducted the survey in each August since 2001 to ask Americans to indicate whether they have positive or negative views of a list of business and industry sectors.

Americans' rating of the federal government has recovered slightly this year, but are not back to where they were prior to declining to their lowest level on record last year, just after the protracted wrangling on raising the debt ceiling, the Gallup said in a report.

Americans' views of the federal government began to deteriorate significantly in 2004 and then rose slightly in the first two years of the Obama administration which came to power in 2009.

The positive ratings of the federal government have dropped by 18 percentage points since 2003, while its negative ratings having climbed by 25 percentage points.

The computer industry may have benefited from the U.S. dominance in the industry, which has produced such big-name companies like Apple, Google and Facebook, which stand out as examples of entrepreneurial success. "It appears that Americans appreciate these success stories and hold these industry sectors in high esteem," the Gallup said.

American voters' criticism of federal government will play a major role in this November's presidential election, which is expected to feature a heated race between President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

The Republicans have an edge in voter sympathy with their criticism of government in general, although the fact that Romney' s new running mate Paul Ryan is himself a sitting member of Congress could in theory negate some of that advantage, the Gallup said.

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Aug. 9-12 with a random sample of 1,012 adults. It has an error margin of 4 percent.