'Americans to Congress: You stink'

More than half of respondents in the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll said they would vote to defeat every single member of Congress, including their own representative.

Ouch.

Even when Congress has abysmal approval ratings, most voters give their own lawmaker higher marks but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

The poll found that, overall, members have a 17 percent approval rating.

Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff, told NBC News the message is clear.

"The memo is pretty simple — ‘Americans to Congress: You stink,’" he said.

The poll shows Americans are evenly divided on healthcare: 46 percent say it would be better to pass President Barack Obama’s plan versus 45 percent who would prefer not to pass it.

And what does that mean for House members, who are likely to vote on healthcare this weekend.

"There is no easy place right now in the healthcare debate," McInturff told NBC.