One man’s meat is another man’s poison. Legislatively, that is.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 48% of U.S. voters think passing good legislation is a more important role for Congress that preventing bad legislation from becoming law.
But in a reflection of these hyper-partisan times, nearly as many voters (46%) believe it’s more important for Congress to stop bad bills before they’re passed into law.

Democrats control both the House and Senate, and 55% of Democratic voters say Congress’ priority is passing good legislation. Just as many Republicans (55%) say Congress’ emphasis should be on stopping bad legislation in its tracks.

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Voters not affiliated with either major party give the edge to good legislation by a nine-point margin, 51% to 42%.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of liberals say Congress should champion good laws, while 57% of conservatives say it should focus on stopping bad ones.

Just 15% of voters now give Congress good or excellent ratings, while most (53%) rate the legislature’s performance as poor. This is explained in part by Congress’ passage this year of bailout and stimulus measures that many voters have opposed.

Fifty-five percent (55%) expect politics in Washington, D.C. to become more partisan over the next year, up 15 points from the week President Obama took office in January.

Forty-two percent (42%) now favor the health care plan proposed by the president and congressional Democrats, while 54% are opposed to it.

But 42% of voters believe partisan politics is the real reason for Republican opposition to health care.
Eighty-one percent (81%) say politicians’ unwillingness to cut government spending is a bigger problem for the country than voters’ unwillingness to pay higher taxes.

A plurality of voters (49%) now says it is at least somewhat likely that Republicans will win control of Congress next year. But only 18% say it is very likely.

Republicans continue to lead Democrats in the Generic Congressional Ballot which asks voters which party’s candidate they would choose in their home district election.

However, 73% of Republicans who plan to vote in 2012 state primaries say their party’s representatives in Congress have not done a good job of representing GOP values.

By contrast, a plurality (47%) of Democratic voters say their congressmen are on the same page with them ideologically.

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