When it comes to the nation’s economic issues, 67% of U.S. voters have more confidence in their own judgment than they do in the average member of Congress.

Nineteen percent (19%) trust members of Congress more, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fourteen percent (14%) aren’t sure.

Republicans and unaffiliated voters by double digits have more confidence in themselves than Democrats do, but even a majority of the party that controls Congress trust themselves more than the average legislator.

Forty-four percent (44%) voters also think a group of people selected at random from the phone book would do a better job addressing the nation’s problems than the current Congress, but 37% disagree. Twenty percent (20%) are undecided.

The new Congress fares worse on this question that the previous Congress. Last October, just 33% said a randomly selected group of Americans would do a better job than the Congress then in session.

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Although an $800-billion-plus economic rescue plan has now passed both the House and Senate, the overwhelming majority of voters are not confident that Congress knows what it’s doing with regards to the economy. Fifty-eight percent (58%) agree, too, that “no matter how bad things are, Congress can always find a way to make them worse.”

The Senate and House versions of the stimulus plan will now be the subject of a joint conference to work out a package that both chambers can agree on.

Seventy-four percent (74%) of male voters have more confidence in themselves than the average member of Congress. Sixty-one percent (61%) of female voters feel that way.

Seventy-four percent (74%) of GOP voters, 73% of those not affiliated with either party and 58% of Democrats say they know better.

Whites and investors are more confident of their economic know-how compared to the average congressman than are African-Americans and non-investors.

Since they no longer control either the Senate or the House, it’s no surprise that a majority of Republicans (51%) say a group of people picked at random from the phone book would do a better job than the current Congress. But even more unaffiliated voters (56%) agree.

Democrats take the opposite view--49% of those in Nancy Pelosi’s party say Congress today is better than a random group from the phone book. Just 28% disagree.

Fifty-four percent (54%) of voters say Congress is doing a poor job these days.

While Congress grows the country’s budget deficit by historic amounts in an effort to help the economy, the majority of Americans don’t even believe most legislators pay all the taxes they owe.

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