President Obama contends he inherited the nation’s ongoing economic problems and that his actions since taking office are not to blame. Sixty-two percent (62%) of U.S. voters agree with the president that the problems are due to the recession that began under the Bush administration.

Just 27% of voters say the problems are being caused more by the policies Obama has put in place since taking office, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Ten percent (10%) are not sure which president is more to blame.

Not surprisingly, 88% of Democrats say it’s Bush’s fault. However, Republicans are more evenly divided. Thirty-four percent (34%) of the GOP faithful say the economic problems can be traced to the Bush Administration while 51% blame Obama’s policies.

Among voters not affiliated with either party, 61% say the Bush recession is to blame versus 28% who say Obama is at fault.

While 94% of liberals and 72% of moderates see the root cause of the economic problems in the recession that began under Bush, conservatives by a much narrower 47% to 35% margin point to Obama’s policies.

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Obama has maintained high and relatively stable approval numbers since January. He got a bounce this past week in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll from his nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Just before he left office in January, 57% of Americans said Bush is one of the five worst presidents in U.S. history.

Most voters have consistently opposed bailouts for the auto and financial industries, both of which were initiated during the closing months of the Bush presidency but have been continued under Obama.

Just 21% now support the taxpayer-backed bailout plan Obama’s auto task force has engineered to keep General Motors in business. Only 18% think the government and the United Auto Workers union will do a good job running GM and Chrysler.

Similarly, 59% of voters believe the federal bailouts for banks and other financial institutions were a bad idea. Seventy-six percent (76%) didn’t like the idea of bailing out troubled insurance companies.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of Americans say the president’s plan to provide mortgage subsidies to financially troubled homeowners was rewarding bad behavior, helping those who bought more house than they could afford.

Most Americans (51%) had a favorable view of the “tea party” rallies and 77% say the unwillingness of politicians to cut spending is a bigger problem than voters’ resistance to paying more taxes.

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