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| Harris Poll Shows Military Still Most-Admired U.S. Institution |
| 2006-03-10 |
| WASHINGTON, March 7, 2006 – The military continues to be the most admired institution in America, according to the latest Harris Poll. A total of 47 percent of Americans said they have a "great deal" of confidence in the military. Some 38 percent of Americans said they had "only some" confidence and 14 percent said they had "hardly any" confidence in the military. The military was followed in the poll by small business - a new category in 2005 - with 45 percent of Americans saying they had a great deal of confidence; colleges and universities, 38 percent; the Supreme Court, 33 percent; and Medicine, 31 percent. At the bottom of the survey, released March 2, were law firms at 10 percent, Congress at 10 percent, organized labor at 12 percent, major companies at 13 percent and the press at 14 percent. Yea, baby! Anchoring the middle was organized religion at 30 percent, the White House at 25 percent, public schools at 22, the courts and justice system at 21, and television news at 19. The military has done well in the poll since the mid-1980s. The first poll, conducted in 1966, had the military at 61 percent approval rating. The next poll, conducted in 1971 showed the corrosive effect of the Vietnam War on America. Only 27 percent of Americans had confidence in the military then. The public confidence in the military climbed after the 1970s and by 1989 the military was the most-trusted organization in the United States. Harris Interactive, based in Rochester, N.Y., conducts the poll without sponsors. "We do this on our own," public relations coordinator Kelly Gullo said. Gullo said Harris Interactive pollsters canvassed 1,016 U.S. adults via telephone. She said the sampling error for the survey is plus or minus 3 percent. |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #4 Polls are the height of idiocy. The only kind of poll that is remotely accurate is an immediate "yes or no" poll, done right after people have been focused on something. e.g. coke vs. pepsi. However, if even intelligent people have not been thinking about something, and are "ambush polled", which is most of the time, the results make them sound like dumbasses. That is, if you were asked, right now, to name the justices of the Supreme Court, and only given 30 seconds to reply, how many would you get right; compared to if you had several minutes to think about it first? |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-03-10 13:32 |
| #3 The good news is the press is working very hard to beat lawyers in this poll. They'll be around 9% before you know it! |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-03-10 12:31 |
| #2 Not at all a knock on the miliary, but this is actually very bad for the (small "r") republican form of government. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-03-10 10:47 |
| #1 Congress at 10 percent What the Dems don't grasp is that in their efforts to undermine the President, they're also taking themselves down. the White House at 25 percent Which supports the old saying that 'you don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than someone [Congress] else in your group'. A total of 47 percent of Americans said they have a "great deal" of confidence in the military Which while good in a normal sense, because of the low numbers on the first two, it is not healthy for a republic. There is a little thing Jefferson wrote about 'consent of the governed'. Tick off too many people, too long, and that consent could move to other institutions. Something about ignoring history. I doubt the American military has any stomach to step in to the situation, that does not preclude it from being forced upon them. Fortunately, in the record the usual American approach up till now has been for military leaders [Washington through Eisenhower] to do it through more traditional methods. |
| Posted by: Hupoting Groluse9049 2006-03-10 10:36 |