[lit-ideas] Collapse of trust in the USA
- From: "Andreas Ramos" <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Lit-Ideas" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 10:55:13 -0700
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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