A new Harris Poll measures the levels of trust which Americans have in important institutions, and compares the results with those in a virtually identical European survey. For many institutions the levels of trust, or distrust, on both sides of the Atlantic were similar. There were also some striking differences.It's nice to havea little data that backs up our theories...
Americans showed much less trust than Europeans in the media and in the United Nations. On the other hand, Americans, more than Europeans, trust religious institutions. Both Americans and Europeans had relatively high levels of trust in their police and military. Both Americans and Europeans had very little trust in political parties, their governments, trade unions and big business.
The American data are the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,092 adults surveyed online between December 8 and 15, 2004. The European data come from the Eurobarometer survey of adults in the 25 member countries of the European Union surveyed nine months earlier in February and March 2004.
Mark's Remarks
Gee, I wonder why Americans would be distrustful of the mainstream media..hmm...
The ABC memo proclaiming that news organizations would have to take up John Kerry's Banner,
The lack of coverage of the Swifties, other than to label them as crackpots,
The lack of vetting of Christmas in Cambodia while castigating Bush's National Guard Service,
And, of Course, the CBS Rathergate scandal. Gee, and that is just in the last Presidential election cycle. Oh, yeah, and need we mention the lack of covering the Sandy Berger fiasco?
And gee, who are the true sheep? For years, I have heard Euros bash Americans for being led around by their media. Well, according to this survey, the only ones bah-bahing are the Euros and others, probably including the Al(queda)Jazeera network.
Of course, according to Bill O'Reilly, We bloggers are nothing more than smear merchants. Well, gee, Bill--what about your nonstop coverage of Michael Jackson and the lurid details of his scandal, along with the Peterson case? Wasn't there a bit of smear there, pinhead? Sorry, couldn't resist.
