It’s rare to find a poll which highlights the somewhat less than optimistic nature of the electorate these days quite as much as this latest one from Rasmussen. For reasons which are never explained, the polling firm asked one thousand Americans whether or not they felt it mattered who represents them in Congress or which party they were from.

81% of Likely U.S. Voters think it matters who represents them in Congress. Just nine percent (9%) say that it’s not important who their congressional representative is.

Seventy-three percent (73%) of voters also believe it matters which political party controls Congress. Nineteen percent (19%) disagree and say it doesn’t matter which party is in power.

Did you catch the key phrase in there? They asked “likely voters” and, shockingly, a large number of them felt elections were important. Thanks guys!

But how are people feeling about their own representative?

Forty percent (40%) say their current representative is the best person for the job, but 38% disagree. Twenty-two percent (22%) aren’t sure.

Last November only 33% thought they had the right person in office. Let’s see… we just kicked slightly more than 60 members of the House out and replaced them with fresh meat. Yep, that sounds about right.

So, has this inspired a fresh wave of hope across the nation that this latest wave of change will finally set things to rights?

[V]oters have little confidence in what their elected politicians will do. Only about one-in-five voters are optimistic about what Congress will accomplish when it comes to taxes, government spending, cleaning up corruption, and immigration.

Fifty-nine percent (59%), in fact, think it is at least somewhat likely most voters will be disappointed with Republicans in Congress before the next national elections in 2012, with 38% who say it is Very Likely.

All jokes aside, this may be a fairly good reflection of the core themes expressed by tea party voters this fall. Results matter. And nobody is getting the benefit of the doubt unless and until they actually being producing.