The number of voters who give Congress a poor job performance rating is now at its highest level in more than three years. More voters also think most members of Congress are corrupt.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 61% of likely voters say Congress is doing a poor job. Just 12% give Congress good or excellent ratings, marking no change from last month. Positive ratings for Congress have changed little from a year ago, when 14% gave the legislature good or excellent marks.

Since then, of course, Congress has passed a controversial economic stimulus plan and unpopular bailout plans for the financial industry, General Motors and Chrysler. The health care plan now stalled in Congress has long been opposed by most voters. In fact, 61% now want Congress to drop health care and focus on jobs.

Forty-five percent (45%) of voters now view most members of Congress as being corrupt, the highest level found since June 2008. Just 28% disagree and say most members are not corrupt. Another 26% are undecided.

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Twenty-three percent (23%) of Democrats say Congress is doing a good or excellent job, a view shared by only five percent (5%) of Republicans and eight percent (8%) of voters not affiliated with either party.

Over half of those in the Political Class (53%) give Congress positive marks, compared to six percent (6%) of Mainstream voters.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Mainstream voters say most members of Congress are corrupt, but nearly half (48%) of the Political Class disagree.

Democrats are narrowly divided on the question, but a plurality (45%) of GOP voters and 55% of unaffiliateds think most of their national legislators are corrupt.

Separate polling shows voters place government ethics and corruption second just behind the economy in terms of importance. However, recent polling also shows voters don’t know which party to trust more when it comes to ethics issues.

Despite Congress’ poor ratings, 43% of voters do expect the legislature to address the most serious issues facing the nation within the next year, up from 38% in December. Still, the majority (54%) disagree.

While most voters (59%) think cutting taxes is a better way to create jobs than increased government spending, they overwhelmingly expect Congress to increase spending instead.

One of the key new initiatives in President Obama’s State of the Union speech is a three-year freeze on discretionary government spending, but voters overwhelmingly believe the freeze will have little or no impact on the federal deficit.

The latest survey also finds that just 14% of voters nationwide believe Congress has passed anything to significantly improve life in America over the past year. That’s down six points from last month. Sixty percent (60%) say Congress has not passed anything to improve life in America, a figure that has held relatively steady since last August.

Seventy-eight percent (78%) say most members of Congress are more interested in furthering their own careers than actually helping people. Just 12% share the opposite opinion. Those figures have also held steady over the past several years.

Democrats have majority control of both the Senate and the House. But 61% of voters now say a GOP takeover of the House is at least somewhat likely in November. Twenty-six percent (26%) say it's very likely.

Republican candidates hold a nine-point lead over Democrats in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot. Forty-six percent (46%) would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 37% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent. Republicans have held the lead on the ballot for several months now.

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