Forty-nine percent (49%) of U.S. voters trust their own judgment more than President Obama’s when it comes to the economic issues affecting the nation.

Thirty-nine percent (39%) trust the president more in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure whose judgment is better.

But voters clearly regard Obama as more of an economic whiz than Congress. Two-thirds of voters (67%) have more confidence in their own judgment in dealing with the nation’s economic problems than they do in the average member of Congress.

Voters are closely divided on the president’s insistence that “an economy that is already in crisis will be faced with catastrophe” if Congress does not quickly pass an economic stimulus plan. But 62% say Obama’s characterization of the economy is about right.

Twenty-six percent (26%) of voters believe the president is being too negative, while nine percent (9%) say he is being too positive. Three percent (3%) are not sure.

Both the Rasmussen Consumer and Investor Indexes, which measure daily economic confidence, remain in record low territory.

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Voter support for the $789-billion stimulus plan has increased slightly over the past week since Obama began aggressively campaigning for it. But there’s a wide partisan divide in that support.

Sixty percent (60%) of voters say the plan emerging from Congress is mostly what Democrats want rather than a truly bipartisan product.

Indicative of the partisan split is the fact that 71% of Republican voters say they trust themselves more than the president when it comes to dealing with the economy, while 59% of Democrats have more confidence in Obama. Among voters not affiliated with either party, 55% trust themselves more, and 33% have more faith in the president.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of liberals trust Obama more versus 70% of conservatives who feel the opposite way. Moderates are evenly divided.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of investors trust themselves more, compared to 41% of non-investors.

Ninety percent (90%) of Democrats say Obama’s characterization of the economy is about right, as do 36% of Republicans and 51% of unaffiliated voters.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of investors think the president is about right, but 32% say his assessment is too negative.

Obama’s ratings in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval Index have gone up since his prime-time television press conference Monday night.

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