The majority party may be celebrating in Denver this week, but the percentage of voters who give the Democratic-dominated Congress good or excellent ratings has once again fallen to single digits.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just nine percent (9%) of Likely Voters give Congress positive ratings, while 51% say it's doing a poor job.

Congressional ratings first hit nine percent (9%) back at the beginning of July, marking the lowest ratings recorded by Rasmussen Reports. Ratings hit the same low two weeks later. Congress has not received higher than a 15% approval rating since the beginning of this year.

Indicative of the low opinion most voters have of Congress were the findings in another survey earlier this week of members of the leadership's own party. Just 37% of Democrats say they have a favorable opinion of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while 51% have an unfavorable view of her. One-quarter (25%) of Democrats rate their view of the San Francisco Democrat as Very Favorable, but 14% see her in a Very Unfavorable light.

The news is even worse for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is viewed favorably by 22% of Democrats and unfavorably by 41%. Six percent (6%) of Democrats have a Very Favorable view of the Nevada senator, but 8% regard him Very Unfavorably.

Next week when the Republicans hold their convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, we'll find out what they think of their congressional leaders.

Men are much more critical than women of congressional performance. Sixty-one percent (61%) of men say Congress is doing a poor job, compared to 43% of women. Just seven percent (7%) of men and 11% of women say Congress is doing a good or excellent job.

Not surprisingly, there's a partisan divide in the ratings. While 64% of Republicans and 62% of unaffiliated voters say Congress is doing a poor job, just 35% of Democrats agree. Sixteen percent (16%) of Democrats think Congress is doing a good or excellent job, but only five percent (5%) of Republican voters and four percent (4%) of unaffiliated voters agree.

Just 11% of voters think Congress has passed any legislation to improve life in this country over the past six months. That number has ranged from 11% to 13% throughout 2008. The majority of voters (62%) say Congress has not passed any legislation to improve life in America.

A majority of voters think this is unlikely to change. Just 43% find it at least somewhat likely that Congress will address important problems facing our nation in the near future, but 51% believe this is unlikely.

Despite these negative attitudes towards Congress, Democrats continue to enjoy solid leads on the Generic Congressional Ballot. Nationally, John McCain and Barack Obama are in a dead heat in the Daily Presidential Tracking poll.

Most voters (68%) think members of Congress are more interested in furthering their own political careers than in genuinely helping people. Just 16% believe the reverse.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it’s free)… let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.

See survey questions and toplines. Crosstabs and Historical Data available for Premium Members only.