The share of Americans who think the Federal Reserve is doing an excellent-to-good job has sunk even as chairman Ben Bernanke has taken unprecedented steps to try to prevent a financial catastrophe, according to a new poll released Monday.

Many analysts credit Bernanke's unconventional approach with averting disaster last year. But his support of taxpayer bailouts of big financial firms such as insurance giant American International Group upset the public and many lawmakers.

The Gallop poll, conducted in mid-July, found that only 30 percent rated the Fed as doing an "excellent/good" job.

It was the lowest such score out of nine government agencies. And it was down sharply from the 53 percent who thought the Fed was doing an excellent-to-good job in a survey in 2003. At that time, then-Fed chief Alan Greenspan was steering a fragile economy back from the 2001 recession, terror attacks and corporate accounting scandals that had rocked Wall Street.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention topped the list with 61 percent of poll respondents rating that agency excellent to good. NASA and the FBI tied for second place at 58 percent each.

The CIA, the Department of Homeland Security, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Internal Revenue Service and the Food and Drug Administration all earned scores higher than the Fed's, the poll said.

The results come at a delicate time for Bernanke. His term expires early next year, and President Barack Obama will have to decide whether to reappoint him to a new four-year term or find a replacement. Bernanke has been under fire on Capitol Hill for rescuing AIG to the tune of more than $180 billion.

(Agencies)