Just 37% of Americans are even somewhat confident that their political leaders know what they’re doing as they try to address the nation’s economic problems.

Of this group, only four percent (4%) are Very Confident they know what they’re doing, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) lack confidence in their leaders, including 20% who say they are not at all confident that policymakers know what they are doing with regards to the troubled U.S. economy.

Adding to the concern, American voters believe that lobbyists will have a far bigger influence on the congressional debate than either taxpayers or Barack Obama. Just 17% think Congress will listen most to taxpayers in determining the details of the recovery plan. Nearly half (47%) say they will listen most to lobbyists, and 21% believe the new president will be the most important voice they hear.

Just 28% believe that most members of Congress will know the key details of the recovery plan before they vote on it. Thirty-eight percent (38%) disagree and say the legislators will vote without knowing the details of the costly program. A plurality of Republicans and those not affiliated with either major party believe most members of Congress will not know the details of the economic recovery plan before they vote on it. Democrats are more evenly divided on that question.

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Bleak as they are, these figures reflect a slight improvement from mid-November when only 26% of adults were at least somewhat confident that their political leaders knew what they were doing about the economy.

Democrats are more confident in policymakers than Republicans and those not affiliated with either major party. Fifty-two percent (52%) of Democrats are at least somewhat confident that political leaders know what they are doing regarding the economy, compared to 29% of Republicans and 27% of unaffiliateds. However, hardly anybody is Very Confident. Even among Democrats, that figure is in the single digits.

Congress is currently wrangling over the details of an economic recovery plan it hopes to pass soon after Barack Obama becomes president. Its potential price tag ranges from $775 billion to $1.2 trillion. Several top Democrats are concerned about Obama’s insistence on $300 billion in tax cuts in the plan and want more spending instead.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Americans opposed to a recovery plan that does not cut taxes.

Meanwhile, debate continues over the effectiveness and use of the highly unpopular $700 billion bailout plan Congress passed last October just after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and Wall Street’s woes became highly visible.

Nearly half (47%) of U.S. voters also say Congress has more control over the direction of the economy than the president and the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.

A survey last year found that 57% of voters believe it is not possible to run a campaign without the help of lobbyists and special interest groups.

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