Just 16% of U.S. voters give Congress good or excellent ratings now that it's back in action after a rough-and-tumble August recess, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

That’s up two points from last month but down seven points from the highest rating of 2009, reached in late May.

Fifty-three (53%) percent say Congress is doing a poor job, down three points since early August but roughly comparable to what voters thought of the legislators at the time President Obama assumed office in late January.

However, Americans now view being a member of Congress as the least respected job one can hold.

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Despite their control of both the House and Senate, Democrats are fairly evenly divided in their views of Congress' job performance, with 23% who give the legislature good or excellent ratings and 28% who say it's doing a poor job. A majority of Republicans (64%) and unaffiliated voters (72%) give Congress poor ratings.

Only 19% of all voters say Congress has passed anything that will significantly improve the quality of life in America, down slightly from August. Fifty-nine percent (59%) disagree and say Congress has passed no such legislation.

Voters are divided on the likelihood Congress will address the nation's top issues in the near future. While 49% say the legislature is likely to address the most serious issues facing the nation, 47% disagree. These results show little change since August.

Still, confidence in the $787-billion economic stimulus package approved by Congress in February has reached a new high.

Most voters (51%) worry, though, that the federal government will do too much in response to the country’s continuing economic problems. Sixty-six percent (66%) of voters nationwide say they’re at least somewhat angry about the current policies of the federal government.

Thirty-five percent (35%) of voters believe most members of Congress are corrupt, while 46% disagree.

Fifteen percent (15%) say most members of Congress are genuinely interested in helping people, but 74% say they are more interested in furthering their own political careers. These results have remained fairly consistent since January 2009.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters have an unfavorable view of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but that's down seven points from an all-time high in late August. Pelosi is by far the best-known of the top congressional leaders of both parties, most of whom still are unknowns to many voters.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of voters believe Congress is too liberal while 22% hold the opposite view and say it is too conservative. Only 14% say the ideological balance of Congress is about right.

Forty-two percent (42%) say a group of people randomly selected from the phone book would do a better job than the current Congress, but the same number (42%) disagree.

Two-out-of-three American voters (67%) also lack confidence that Congress knows what it’s doing when it comes to the economy.

The latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot shows Republicans with a four-point lead over Democrats.

Rasmussen Reports has begun surveying potential 2010 U.S. Senate match-ups and already has recently released findings from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina and Ohio.

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