Forty-four percent (44%) of Americans agree with President Bush’s declaration last week that "free-market capitalism is far more than an economic theory. It is the engine of social mobility - the highway to the American Dream."

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 22% disagree with that sentiment, while 33% are undecided.

Bush made the statement last Thursday on the eve of a hastily convened summit of world leaders to address growing international economic problems. The president was responding to comments from some of those leaders for much stricter market regulation. The gathering of world leaders in Washington this past weekend produced little in the way of concrete results, but there were pledges to avoid raising new trade barriers and a call for a second summit just a few months after President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated.

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Republicans, by a four-to-one margin, strongly agree with the president’s assertion about the positive social benefits of free-market capitalism. Democrats are evenly divided. As for those not affiliated with either major party, 41% agree with the Bush’s statement and 24% disagree (see crosstabs).

The youngest and oldest Americans are least likely to agree with the president. Among those aged 30-64, nearly half (48%) agree with the notion that free-market capitalism is the highway to the American Dream. Just 38% of senior citizens share that view, along with 35% of those under 30.

Those who earn more than $60,000 a year strongly agree on the virtues of free-market capitalism. Those who earn between $20,000 and $60,000 a year agree by a nearly two-to-one margin. However, among those who earn less than $20,000 a year, only 21% agree, while 24% disagree.

On Thursday, Bush also warned, “We must recognize that government intervention is not a cure-all. History has shown that the greater threat to economic prosperity is not too little government involvement in the market, but too much."

His comments echoed a statement by Ronald Reagan in his first inaugural address that "government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem." In a survey last month, 59% of Americans agreed with Reagan's statement.

In a separate release today, just 26% of Americans have confidence that their leaders know what they are doing when it comes to the economy.

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