• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, September 26, 2007

Trouble in River City - Measuring Trust

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:

• 37.8% don't think social security will be around when they retire.
• 66.6% believe there is an imbalance between what men and women are paid.
• 93% believe there are problems with the U.S. Healthcare System
• 48.6% don't buy organic foods
• 58% say he Michael Vick shouldn't be allowed to play again in the NFL

Other topics plus complete responses by key demographics can be accessed through this link.