Poll: Most Americans Believe Bush Admin Deceives Public

[Spence]

A majority of U.S. adults believe the Bush administration generally misleads the public on current issues, while fewer than a third of Americans believe the information provided by the administration is generally accurate, the latest Harris Interactive poll finds.

While the telephone survey of 1,011 U.S. adults indicates about 64% of Americans believe the Bush administration "generally misleads the American public on current issues to achieve its own ends," opinion on the topic is clearly divided along party lines. A large majority (68% to 28%) of Republicans say the Bush administration generally provides accurate information. However, even larger majorities of Democrats (91% to 7%) and Independents (73% to 25%) think the information is generally misleading.

When asked about former Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who has been indicted on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements, more than half of U.S. adults say the situation indicates "a larger problem in the Bush administration," while 35% say it was an "isolated incident." About 82% of Democrats say it indicates a larger problem, while 70% of Republicans feel the Libby case is an isolated incident.Source (http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB113268445376804317.html)

[BurgundyNGold]

Great!

Now if we can just get them to realize that it's been happening pretty regular for the last 50 years, we might be onto something.

[Spence]

Great!

Now if we can just get them to realize that it's been happening pretty regular for the last 50 years, we might be onto something.I don't think you'll get much support from the American people about that. I'm sure the second Nixon administration was viewed this way, as was LBJ in the last year or so of his administration. If I was a betting man, I'd bet that's it. Going back the 50 years you suggest, I think strong majorities of Americans believed they were generally told the truth by Eisenhower, Kennedy, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 1.0 and Clinton. Reagan would have had some trouble over Iran/Contra, but that was mostly temporary and he left office generally trusted and admired. Clinton had trouble over his personal life, where few people trusted his word, but he was generally regarded by most people as someone who didn't lie about his public policies.

[Agrawog]

Well it looks like the Bush administration is finally falling victim to its own methods: repeat something long enough and it becomes accepted wisdom (although in this case it's actually true).

As for past presidents, Reagan and his boys got a total pass on Iran-Contra when Bush 1 pardoned them all so we will never really know how a potentially massive government conspiracy affecting the most important aspects of government really went down. he wasn't called the teflon president for nothing, you know.

I have never really understood how more about that never came out and why Bush 1 never caught flak for pardoning all those guys. Ah well.

[Ibleedburgundy]

Would have been nice for America to come to this realization a year ago. :banghead: