Americans' Trust in Major Institutions

• Clinton trusted more than Dole
• Americans are highly skeptical of the media
• Highest trust reserved for friends and church, followed by military and police
• Substantial racial divides evident for some institutions

Who do Americans trust? Not the government or the media according to a new Angus Reid Group/Bloomberg Business News Poll. The poll, conducted among 1,517 nationally representative adults, asked Americans to rate a number of individuals and institutions on a 10 point scale. A rating of 10 indicated complete trust while a rating of 1 represented complete distrust.

Government institutions fared poorly with all having a trust deficit. Americans are also highly skeptical of the media.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

Trust in both major presidential candidates is low. However, in spite of attacks on President Clinton's character, Americans trust him more than Bob Dole. Clinton has a trust deficit of 5 points (27% place significant trust in him while 32% distrust him to an equal degree). Dole's trust deficit is larger at 18 points (14% strongly trust him while 32% strongly distrust him).

Clinton is more trusted among virtually all segments of the population except the most affluent. Americans earning over $60,000 per year place greater trust in Dole. Among this group, Clinton has a 25 percentage point deficit compared to Dole's 11 point deficit.

Clinton's trust scores are highest among African Americans (43 point surplus), Hispanics (+19 points), residents of the Northeast (+9 points), seniors (+8 points) and union members (+4 points) .

OTHER BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT

The Federal government scored the lowest ratings in the poll with a trust deficit of 23 points. Only 11 percent of Americans surveyed expressed significant trust in the national government, while 34 percent expressed significant distrust. Firm Dole supporters, residents of middle income households and residents of the West Coast had even less trust in the government than most Americans.

Local governments fare slightly better than the Federal government though they are still more likely to be distrusted than trusted, with a 13 point deficit. Seniors and Midwest Residents have above-average trust in their local governments.

THE MILITARY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

The military and local police are awarded much higher trust scores than other governmental institutions. Surpluses of 36 points for the military and 33 points for the police were registered. Both enjoy a trust surplus among all segments of the population.

Seniors, firm Dole supporters, those without a college education, Midwesterners and those with incomes under $30,000 have above-average trust in the military.

Likewise, seniors and Midwesterners give their local police much higher trust marks than do other Americans.

When it comes to local police, however, there is a noticeable racial divide. African-Americans are substantially less likely to trust their local police than are Whites or Hispanics. The gap is wide, with African Americans being nearly twice as likely to distrust their local police.

OTHER INSTITUTIONS

Americans reserve their highest trust ratings for their "friends and acquaintances" (70% high trust, for a surplus of 66 points) and their "church or religious community" (66% high trust, for a surplus of 59 points).

Women, Southerners and Minorities place greater trust in their churches than do other groups, while Whites and the college educated place above- average trust in their friends.

THE NEWS MEDIA

Distrust in the news media runs high among Americans with only 13 percent saying the media warrants their trust, versus 33 percent who distrust the news media, placing this institution at a trust deficit of 20 points. White, well-educated and affluent individuals are by far the media's biggest skeptics.

Eileen Wolford, Senior Vice President of the Angus Reid Group observes: "Americans' trust in all things political is particularly low at this time. Perhaps because of this, we appear to be placing increasing trust in the traditional support systems of church, community, family and friends." The poll was conducted between August 22nd and September 5th.

The Angus Reid Group is one of North America's leading full-service market and opinion research providers, serving over 1300 clients across North America and globally in the private and public sector. The firm has 250 Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing stations throughout eight North American offices, and annual sales of approximately 28 million dollars.

Bloomberg Business News is a 24-hour global news service founded in 1990. Bloomberg Business News is accredited and recognized throughout the world by journalism societies and major governments for its independent coverage of economic, business and financial affairs.

This Angus Reid Group/Bloomberg Business News Poll was conducted by telephone between August 22nd and September 5th, 1996 among a representative cross-section of 1517 American adults.

The survey sample was regionally stratified, and included a sub-sample of Spanish-speaking Americans. This data was statistically weighted by survey respondents' age and income within geographic region to ensure the sample's characteristics match those of the actual U.S. population according to the 1995 Current Population Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau.

With a national sample of 1517, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results are within 1772.5 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire adult American population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population.

For further information, contact:

Eileen Wolford Senior Vice-President Angus Reid Group (612) 904-6970