Ben Bernanke’s unprecedented appearance at a town hall forum this week is part of the Federal Reserve Board chairman’s increasing public outreach, and 52% of Americans think it’s good for the economy for Bernanke to be speaking out more.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 18% say it’s bad for the economy for the Fed chairman to be talking more in public. Nearly one-out-of-three adults (30%) though are not sure.

Investors are even more enthusiastic about Bernanke’s increasing public remarks: 58% say they’re good for the economy, compared to 46% of non-investors.

But just 26% of Americans now have at least a somewhat favorable opinion of Bernanke, including only five percent (5%) who view him very favorably. He is seen unfavorably by 33%, with 12% very unfavorable. However, 42% are not sure what they think of the Fed chairman.

A month ago, when President Obama proposed expanding the Fed’s already considerable regulatory powers over the economy, 32% had a favorable opinion of Bernanke.

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Only 26% of Americans say the president should reappoint Bernanke when his first four-year term expires in January, while 33% say Obama should name someone new to the post. Forty-one percent (41%) are not sure what the president should do.

Forty-one percent (41%) also say that Bernanke’s predecessor, Alan Greenspan, was a better Fed chairman, even though Greenspan has since admitted misreading many of the factors that led to the country’s current economic problems. Only 18% say Bernanke has been a better chairman than Greenspan, but another 41% are undecided.

Bernanke’s appearance Sunday at the town hall meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, was taped for broadcast this week nationally on PBS. It is viewed as part of a stepped-up public relations effort by the Fed chairman to counter growing criticism of the economic moves initiated by the Fed and the Obama administration.

In June, 60% of Americans said the Fed chairman is influenced by the president in his decision making, while just 20% said the Fed chairman is truly independent. The Fed as the country’s central banking system is an independent government agency that by design is intended to be free of outside political interference.

To put Bernanke’s increased public outreach in perspective, 80% of Americans say public comments by the Fed chairman are at least somewhat important to the movement of the financial markets. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say they are very important. Only four percent (4%) say the chairman’s comments are not at all important to the markets.

Among investors, 87% say the Fed chairman’s comments are important to the movement of the markets, with 46% who say they are very important. The markets routinely react to comments made by the Fed chairman when he periodically appears before key congressional committees.

The majority of Americans (51%) now lack confidence in the stability of the U.S. banking system, down five points from April.

Fifty-four percent (54%) of Americans say interest rates will be higher a year from now, a 20-point jump from April. In part, that’s because 55% are not confident that the Federal Reserve Board will be able to keep inflation under control and interest rates down even though Bernanke has promised to do so.

For the first time, too, more voters say the economic stimulus plan, passed by Congress at the urging of the president and Bernanke, has hurt the economy more than helped it.

Voters continue to believe cutting the growing federal deficit in half is Obama’s number one priority.

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