US Public's Distrust of Politicians Epidemic

Here's another one that would fit better under a "Politics" section maybe. Considering how heated this election has become for some folks, I thought this article was very telling and timely. (Buffy smooches Stardust and Tajiri, and uses the Draft thread under "Rants" as a small example of how easy it is for it to happen)

I think it's probably true as it was mentioned in this article, what I've seen more often is that folks either think Bush is totally trustworthy and wonderful, or Bush is totally the antichrist in office. And I've also seen that, Kerry is getting a mediocre response. Folks just don't know what to make of him and therefore don't know whether to trust him or distrust him.

Anyway, here's the article! And um...to legitimize the debate: What do ya'll thing? Accurate? or Not? Why?

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Poll Shows U.S. Distrust of Politicians 'Epidemic'

22 minutes ago

Politics

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.

Los Angeles-based DecisionQuest is a trial consulting firm owned by Bowne & Co . Reuters is a global information company providing information to the financial services, media and corporate markets.


Source: Poll Shows US Distrust of Politicians 'Epidemic'

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"Spider sense....tingling."

Very interesting. Glad to hear I'm not the only one who's sitting down, thinking about the fact that I don't particularly care for either choice.

The weird thing? If it came down to Edwards or Cheney, the VPs, I'd vote for Edwards. Don't like Cheney at all. *sticks tongue out at him*

So, on the one hand, if Kerry died, I'd get a president I like, but if he didn't, I wouldn't. If Bush died, I'd get a president that I definitely distrust. (Cheney gets an F from me)

Politics are so confusing. I find that most politicians these days talk a lot, and generally do nothing but write pork bills. For once, I'd like to see some politicians campaign on actual, pertinent issues, and then *see* their plans through once elected. Unfortunately, I don't think that's gonna happen this election year. They're just gonna keep on running the Vietnam issues to the ground. It was about six feet under about two weeks after they came up.

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What if there is a spoon?

Actually, that seems like a great idea (what with living in Texas and all). I was really too young to care enough about Bill Clinton when he was President. All's I remember was being annoyed that all they talked about on the news was his affair. I really didn't particularly care. I did think he was dumb for lieing about it under oath, because that, in general, goes under the "stupid moron" category. ^_^ Now that it's after, I don't like his de-militarization policy. But as far as Presidents go, he wasn't the worst.

And that's the way I feel about the Vietnam issue. Sure, I have opinions about it, but there are only so many times you can talk about it before your brain starts trying to commit suicide from boredom. ^_^ Come on, people, let's talk about the economy, health care, education, marriage, WHATEVER. Just let Vietnam slide back a little. ^_^

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What if there is a spoon?