According to the latest American Pulse Survey by BIGresearch, only 2.6% of the 3,978 respondents say members of Congress are trustworthy and 2.2% say the same for the Senate.
Even though only 14.2% say the President was trustworthy, relative to the Lawmakers, the gap is huge. The distrust of elected members of Congress and Senate is consistent among both sexes and all age groups. 70.7% don't trust any of the choices. Surprisingly, more people say bloggers are more trustworthy than the media.
Trustworthiness Quotient | ||||||
| All 18+ | Male | Female | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ |
The President | 14.2% | 15.8% | 12.7% | 11.7% | 12.8% | 18.6% |
Members of Congress | 2.6% | 2.6% | 2.6% | 2.8% | 2.8% | 2.2% |
Members of Senate | 2.2% | 2.5% | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1.1% | 3.6% |
The Media | 4.4% | 4.7% | 4.2% | 5.0% | 3.8% | 4.7% |
Bloggers | 5.8% | 5.4% | 6.3% | 8.5% | 6.1% | 2.8% |
I don't trust any of the above | 70.7% | 69.0% | 72.3% | 69.7% | 73.4% | 68.2% |
Source: BIGresearch American Pulse, September 2007 |
And, when specifically asked about integrity, about a third are definitely not pleased with the incumbents.
Perceived Integrity Of The Elected Officials In The Congress & Senate | ||||||
Rating | All 18+ | Male | Female | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ |
Straight & narrow / honest | 3.0% | 4.1% | 1.9% | 5.1% | 2.4% | 1.4% |
Middle of the road (some honest, some not) | 62.3% | 57.7% | 66.7% | 60.4% | 61.3% | 65.5% |
Majority are dishonest, untrustworthy | 34.7% | 38.2% | 31.4% | 34.5% | 36.2% | 33.0% |
Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Source: BIGresearch American Pulse, September 2007 |
Responses to other topics measured in the study include: