Oakland County voters would make tough teachers.  When asked to assign a letter grade to rate lawmakers' performance, no one gave them an A and 65 percent assigned a grade of D or F.

"This would be like a midterm for House members and quarterly review for Senate members," said Kelly Rossman-McKinney of the Lansing-based Rossman Group, which conducted the statewide survey with MIRS and Denno-Noor. The survey of 600 likely voters was conducted between Nov. 30 and Dec. 3 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. Likely voters were asked: "What grade would you give the Michigan Legislature? Would you give them an A, B, C, D or a failing grade?"

Statewide, 63 percent gave lawmakers a D or a failing grade, just 1 percent gave lawmakers an A and 7 percent a B.

"On top of the normal antiincumbency sentiments prevalent among voters, the saga in Michigan over the fiscal year 2008 budget, government shutdown, new taxes, tax increases, tax repeals and the replacement tax have left voters scratching their heads," John Reurink, president of MIRS, the Michigan Information & Research Service, said in a statement.

By county, failing grades for lawmakers were the highest in Macomb County and the non-Detroit portion of Wayne County, both at 42 percent.

The survey results could indicate trouble for lawmakers on the ballot next year, Rossman-McKinney said.

"You've got some unhappy people in Oakland County," Rossman-McKinney said. "The ultimate grade is at the ballot box. You can only hope the voters in Michigan are willing to grade on a curve."

"I'm not surprised by the public's approval of the Legislature's performance," said Matt Marsden, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester. "It was a difficult year fraught with difficult decisions. It wasn't pretty, and it was frustrating at times.

"I would say to the voters, we will obviously continue to work to improve," Marsden said.