\"Trust In Government Surges During Crisis\"

1 Oct 2001

      -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

(I know this reads like a bad troll, but thought you'd want to see it anyway...)

Washington Post
September 30, 2001
Federal Diary

Trust In Government Surges During Crisis; Challenge Is To Keep It From Ebbing

By Stephen Barr

The liberals trust the government. The conservatives trust the government.
Equal proportions of men and women trust the government.

The results of a Washington Post poll published yesterday are stunning.

The poll found that 64 percent of Americans trusted the federal government
nearly always or most of the time to "do what is right," more than double the
percentage who said they trusted the government in April 2000.

The support cuts across ideological, racial, financial and geographic lines,
reflecting broad support for the federal government, according to the data
compiled by Richard Morin, director of Washington Post polling, and Claudia
Deane, assistant director.

Clearly, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 played a pivotal role in shaping how
Americans view the government. Ninety percent support taking military action
against groups or nations responsible for the attacks, according to the poll. A
whopping 82 percent said they favored having the federal government take over
security screening at U.S. airports.

The poll breaks what had been a three-decade span of surveys showing that
roughly one-third of Americans felt they could trust in government. In the
early 1960s, University of Michigan polls found that more than seven in 10
Americans expressed confidence in the federal government. The proportion
dropped below 50 percent after 1972 and spiraled downward through the decades
of Vietnam, Watergate and political scandals.

Today, the Post poll found, 69 percent of conservatives, 64 percent of
moderates and 62 percent of liberals say they trust the government always or
most of the time.

People identifying themselves by political party also trust the government more
than before. In April 2000, only 25 percent of Republicans said they trusted
the government always or most of the time. Today, it's 73 percent. That's 12
percentage points higher than Democrats, who historically put more faith in
government programs.

The turnaround is equally impressive among independent voters. Only 27 percent
of independents trusted the government last year; now, 62 percent say they do.

The poll found that 64 percent of men and 64 percent of women expressed confidence in the federal government. Residents of the South (67 percent) and
the East (66 percent) showed slightly more trust than people in the West (61
percent) and the Midwest (62 percent).

Young people trusted the government slightly more than baby boomers, according
to the poll. Sixty-eight percent of the people in the 18-to-30 age range said
they trusted the government; 62 percent of those 31 to 44 expressed confidence;
and 63 percent of people older than 45 said they trusted the government.

When measured by income, the changes in trust are dramatic. In April 2000, only
31 percent of respondents earning $50,000 or more trusted the government; now
it's 69 percent. Last year, only 28 percent of people earning $30,000 to
$50,000 expressed trust, while 67 percent do now.

A total of 1,215 randomly selected adults were interviewed Sept. 25-27 for the
poll. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.

The positive feelings about government from Republicans and other conservatives
probably spring from their staunch support of President Bush, a Republican.
But other institutions -- Congress, the military, the FBI -- received equally
impressive approval ratings in recent Gallup polls. Even federal employees are
getting high approval ratings. A recent survey by the Presidential Appointee
Initiative, a Brookings Institution project, found that 69 percent of Americans
held favorable opinions of government workers.

Numerous analysts of poll numbers think this tidal wave of trust in the
government will recede when the crisis fades. But it doesn't have to slip away.
That's the long-haul challenge facing Bush, members of Congress and federal employees.

\"Trust In Government Surges During Crisis\"

auto301094＠hushmail.com