Fourteen percent (14%) of likely voters now give Congress good or excellent marks, representing the legislature’s highest approval ratings since last February.

Still, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 47% say Congress is doing a poor job.

Two weeks ago, just as the 111th Congress opened for business in 2009, with increased Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate, 11% gave the legislature positive ratings.

Since last February, approval for Congress has bounced between eight percent (8%) and 13%, while disapproval ratings ranged from 43% to 56%.

The economic rescue plan that President Barack Obama is working out with the Congress is one of the top issues facing the legislature these days, and a survey released yesterday found that 45% of voters are in favor of the plan. Obama hoped to include $350 billion in tax cuts in the plan but was forced to settle for $275 billion in the face of demands from the Democratic congressional leadership for more spending.

The plan they agreed upon includes $550 billion in new spending for modernization of roads, bridges and other infrastructure, for increased unemployment benefits and to help states and localities with education costs. It’s also intended to create or save up to four million jobs by 2010.

Last fall, voters overwhelmingly worried that the government would do too much to try to fix the economy. Voters’ attitudes on the government’s involvement in the economy have become much more evenly divided, however, as economic conditions continue to worsen.

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The latest survey found that 62% of voters believe it is likely Congress will address serious issues facing our nation in the near future, a number that has remained unchanged from two weeks ago and includes 30% who find it Very Likely Congress will do so. Just over a third (34%) think it is not likely Congress will pass any significant legislation anytime soon.

Only 11% of voters say Congress has passed any legislation to improve life in America over the past year, while 59% disagree. Those findings are also identical to those two weeks ago.

Just 37% of Americans are even somewhat confident that their political leaders know what they’re doing as they try to address the nation’s economic problems, though.

Women are less critical than men are of the legislature. While 16% of women give Congress good or excellent ratings, 12% of men do the same. Over half of men (56%) say it is doing a poor job, compared to 38% of women.

Nearly a quarter of Democrats (23%) give their Congress good or excellent ratings, while only six percent (6%) of Republicans and nine percent (9%) of unaffiliated voters feel the same. Sixty-six percent (66%) of Republicans and 54% of unaffiliated voters say Congress is doing a poor job, compared to only 25% of Democrats.

Over a third of voters (36%) believe most members of Congress are corrupt, a figure that has remained constant over the last two weeks but has worsened over the past several months. The plurality (40%) disagrees. Another 24% are undecided.

Most voters believe members of Congress are more interested in helping their own careers than in helping people by a 68% to 18% margin. Those results have improved somewhat from the last poll, which showed only 14% thought Congress members cared more about helping others and 74% thought they were more interested in helping themselves.

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