Fifty-one percent (51%) of Americans think politicians are more interested in gaining additional power than in fixing the economy with the proposed $700-billion taxpayer-backed financial rescue plan.

Thirty percent (30%) say they’re more interested in righting the troubled economy, according to a new Rasmussen reports national telephone survey taken Thursday and Friday nights. Nineteen percent (19%) aren’t sure.

But then one-third of adults (33%) believe U.S. political leaders are trying to scare Americans into supporting the bailout proposal by making the economy seem worse than it really is. Only slightly more (39%) disagree, and 27% are undecided.

The numbers are not exactly a vote of confidence in the Bush Administration plan, backed by senior Democratic leaders, to buy up bad mortgage debt in an effort to free up credit. House Republicans are seeking to significantly downsize the plan because of its unprecedented government involvement in private financial markets.

Adults are evenly divided on whether passing the bailout plan would be good for the economy. Thirty-two percent (32%) say passing the plan would be worse for the economy; 33% say failing to pass it would be worse, and 35% are undecided.

More than 80% of adults say they are following news stories on the plan at least somewhat closely, with 53% saying they are following the news very closely.

In a separate survey released today, just 24% of voters favor the plan first proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson a week ago and the subject of very public negotiations on Capitol Hill ever since.

Voters currently trust Democrats more on handling the economy but Republicans more on the issue of taxes.

Men are more skeptical of the reasoning behind the bailout plan than women. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of men think politicians are more interested in getting additional power for the government, but 28% think they want to fix the economy. A plurality of women see the plan as a power grab but by a much narrower 44% to 31% margin.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of Republicans believe the politicians involved are more interested in getting more power for the government, and 52% of unaffiliated voters and 48% of Democrats agree.

Men also think 41% to 39% that political leaders are trying to scare the public into backing the financial plan by making the economy sound worse than it is. Women disagree by a 40% to 26% margin. A plurality of Republicans (47%) don’t believe scare tactics are in play, but Democrats and unaffiliated voters are more evenly divided.

Men by a slight margin think passing the plan will be worse for the economy than not passing it. Women by roughly similar numbers disagree. Forty-one percent (41%) of Republicans say failing to pass the plan would be worse for the economy, but 30% say it would be better not to pass it. Democrats and unaffiliateds by identical numbers give the edge to not passing the plan.

See survey questions and toplines. Crosstabs available for Premium Members only.