[Marxism] A good epidemic

["Derek S." <dws_1980@xxxxxxxxx>]

Poll Shows U.S. Distrust of Politicians 'Epidemic'
By Gail Appleson
Reuters, Sept. 29, 2004

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans' distrust of
politicians and business leaders has reached an
"epidemic" level, driven by the Iraq 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 and
Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry, 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.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040929/pl_nm/campaign_trust_dc

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