42% Say President Has Bigger Impact on Economy Than Fed Chairman, 41% Disagree

Voters still view the Federal Reserve Board's performance with skepticism and are evenly divided when asked whether the Fed chairman or President Obama have more clout when it comes to the economy.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 42% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the president of the United States has a bigger impact on the U.S. economy than the Fed chairman. But just as many (41%) disagree and say the unelected chairman of the Fed has bigger economic impact. Eighteen percent (18%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Conservative voters tend to think the president is more influential, but moderates and liberals give the edge to the Fed chairman.

While Bernanke assured Americans in his first-ever press conference last week that inflation and interest rates will remain at a steady level, only 36% of voters are at least somewhat confident that the Fed will be able to keep inflation and interest rates under control.  That finding has remained fairly consistent since late July 2009.  Fifty-seven percent (57%) are not confident in the Fed’s ability to keep inflation and interest rates down.  These findings include eight percent (8%) who are Very Confident and 19% who are Not At All Confident in the Fed.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on April 27-28, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.  See methodology.