Sixty percent (60%) of Americans now believe the U.S. economy is not fundamentally sound, and voters are evenly divided on whether any laws passed by Congress will make things better, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

In fact, voters are slightly more inclined to blame Congress for the current problems on Wall Street than President Bush, 27% to 20%. But a plurality (37%) think private corporations are the chief culprits for the present financial mess. Nine percent (9%) blame the Federal Reserve (crosstabs available for Premium Members).

Just 27% of voters agree with Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s statement on Monday that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” McCain has not repeated the comment amidst the flurry of bad economic news in the days since.

Republicans by a 48% to 38% margin agree with McCain’s statement. But 79% of Democrats say the economy is not fundamentally strong, and unaffiliated voters by more than two-to-one agree with them.

The Rasmussen Consumer Index shows that the nation’s economic confidence fell sharply this week after gradually gaining ground for the past three months.

Only 29% say the United States has the best economy in the world, while 50% believe it does not. These numbers reflect only slightly more pessimism than earlier findings.

Fifty percent (50%) of Republicans rate the U.S. economy as the best versus just 15% of Democrats. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Democrats and 33% of GOP voters say the U.S. economy is not the best in the world. Unaffiliated voters, again by more than two-to-one, agree that America’s economy is not the world’s best.

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Senior Bush Administration officials and Capitol Hill leaders are now working on an emergency package aimed at meeting the massive debt crisis that is roiling the U.S. economy. With the auto industry seeking an infusion of federal monies following the $85 billion bailout earlier this week of mega-insurer American International Group, government officials are hoping to put together a systematic plan rather than bouncing from one business crisis to the next.

McCain and Barack Obama have been struggling to find a position on the economy with the stock market trading heavily down and up all week. Both have been reduced largely to blaming each other’s economic philosophies and those of their respective political parties rather than offering solutions of their own. However, the politics of the issue remain complex--49% of voters worry that the federal government will do too much while just 36% are more worried that it will do too little.

Nationally, the race between Obama and McCain remains very close in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.
Thirty-two percent (32%) of voters say if Congress passes laws to deal with the economic situation, things will get better, but 35% say they will get worse. Seventeen percent (17%) say congressional action will make no difference at all.

In a separate survey, just nine percent (9%) of voters now rate the Democratic-led Congress’ overall performance as good or excellent, while 54% say it’s doing a poor job.

But voters trust the Democrats more on seven out of 10 key electoral issues, including the economy, which consistently polls as the most important issue this election year.

Men and women by roughly similar percentages agree that the U.S. economy is not fundamentally sound, but 33% of men believe it is sound compared to just 22% of women. Men are also more likely to blame Congress for the country’s economic problems, while women point their fingers more at the president. A plurality of both agree, however, that private corporations are primarily to blame.

Forty-eight percent (48%) say that reporters, when covering economic issues, make the economy seem worse than it really is, while 16% believe they make it appear better than reality. Twenty-seven percent (27%) say reporters present an accurate picture of the economy. These numbers are consistent with findings in a survey in July.

Partisan politics come to the fore when voters are asked who is to blame for the United States’ current economic woes. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of Democrats blame President Bush, a Republican. Forty-four percent (44%) of GOP voters blame Congress, now run by Democrats. Unaffiliated voters blame Congress (28%) more than the president (16%). Still, more than one-third of Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliateds put the blame on private corporations.

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