[lit-ideas] Collapse of trust in the USA

Poll Shows U.S. Distrust of Politicians 'Epidemic'
By Gail Appleson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans' distrust of politicians and business leaders 
has reached an 
"epidemic" level, driven by the Iraq (news - web sites) war, the disputed 2000 
presidential 
election and financial scandals, a Reuters/DecisionQuest poll revealed on 
Wednesday. The 
nationwide telephone survey of 1,100 adults found 61 percent of Americans had 
lost faith in 
leaders and institutions over the past four years. The poll was conducted last 
week and had 
a margin of error of 2.96 percentage points.

"A significant proportion of people feel disenfranchised," said DecisionQuest 
Chief 
Executive Philip Anthony. "It seems that there is an epidemic level of loss of 
trust here." 
"A constellation of issues is causing people to lose confidence in the state of 
the 
country," he added.

The study showed politicians received "C" grades on a scale of A-plus, meaning 
totally 
trustworthy, to F, meaning totally untrustworthy. President Bush (news - web 
sites) and 
Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), locked in a tight race 
for the 
White House, both received C grades. Bush's score resulted from more polarized 
rankings, 
with those viewing him as totally trustworthy balanced by others with a 
diametrically 
opposing view. Kerry's rankings were more uniformly average.

Amid business scandals ranging from Enron to Martha Stewart (news - web sites), 
trust in 
corporate executives was hurt the most, with 63 percent of respondents 
reporting a drop in 
confidence in them. Executives, along with lawyers and entertainment 
celebrities, received 
the lowest trustworthiness score -- C minus.

Newspaper and television reporters received a "C" grade for trustworthiness. TV 
reporters 
are trusted less now than four years ago by 43.8 percent of Americans, while 
39.4 percent 
said their trust in print reporters had eroded.
A number of major U.S. journalism outlets, including CBS, The New York Times, 
USA Today and 
CNN, have been tainted in recent years by flawed and false reporting.

When asked about specific factors causing an overall loss of trust, 34.5 
percent cited the 
war in Iraq. The 2000 election controversy in Florida came in second with 16 
percent. Other 
reasons included white-collar crime scandals with 14.4 percent and terrorism 
with 11.5 
percent.

The poll showed more women, 66 percent, had lost confidence in leaders and 
institutions, 
than men, at 55 percent.
People's views were divided along political and racial lines. Seventy-eight 
percent of 
Democrats reported a drop in trust, compared with 39 percent of Republicans. 
Among blacks, 
84 percent said their trust had declined, compared with 57 percent of whites.

"This lack of trust is manifesting itself in jury verdicts," Anthony said, 
referring to 
Americans' growing suspicion of authority. For example, over 60 percent of 
respondents said 
they would find in favor of the Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib who were abused 
by the 
American military if they were tried in U.S. courts. Almost 67 percent said 
they would side 
with a worker suing his employer for racial discrimination.

People most trusted their own families and firefighters, both graded A-minus. 
The next most 
trusted people, receiving B grades, were neighbors, police and doctors. 

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