Though just 12% of voters give Congress good or excellent job approval ratings, it’s the highest ratings for the legislature since mid-May.

Just days after the legislature rejected an initial proposal to bailout the nation’s Big Three automakers, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 55% of voters say congress is doing a poor job. A majority of voters have given Congress a poor rating in every survey since mid-June.

The day after Election Day, 11% gave Congress good or excellent ratings. Over the summer, just 9% were willing to give the lawmakers such positive ratings.

A separate survey found that 46% are opposed to a taxpayer-backed bailout of the Big Three automakers. In fact, 48% say it’s better for the economy if companies like General Motors go bankrupt rather than providing subsidies to keep them afloat.

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One interesting change among voters in November is that a growing number believe that members of the legislature are more interested in helping people. Nearly a quarter of voters (23%) now believe they are more interested in helping Americans than furthering their own careers, while 64% still say the opposite. That number was 22% on November 5. Before November, however, that percentage never moved higher than 18% since November 2006.

Additionally, 27% of voters now say it is Very Likely that Congress will address serious issues facing the nation in the coming months, a number that was 29% in early November. Prior to that survey, the highest percentage of voters who saw this as Very Likely was 20%.

Still, the latest survey found just 12% of voters say Congress has passed anything to improve life in America, while 60% disagree. Earlier this month, those percentages were 13% and 62%.

Over a third of voters (36%) believe most members of Congress are corrupt, while 38% disagree. Now, half of Republicans (49%) say most members are corrupt, compared to 39% just three weeks ago. Twenty-six percent (26%) of Democrats agree, up from 20% on November 5.

A separate survey conducted on Election Night found that 30% of Democrats didn’t know who Majority Leader Harry Reid is, while 8% were not familiar with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

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