Poll finds public trust in leaders at low point

Political candidates working to gain voters’ trust Nov. 4 might face an uphill battle next month, after Americans’ faith in their leaders slipped to some of the lowest rates ever, according to a new poll.
Eighty percent of the individuals polled said the United States faces a ‘leadership crisis’ today, according to a study conducted by the Center for Public Leadership, a joint effort sponsored by Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the Merriman River Group, a political consulting company.
Sixty percent of respondents polled said they have little or no confidence in the executive branch, compared with 49 percent last year.
The annual report is part of the National Study in Confidence of Leadership, which includes the yearly National Leadership Index, a measure of the public’s confidence in leadership within different sectors of society.
Confidence in the executive branch and Congress declined sharply, but not as much as the public’s confidence in business leaders in the wake of a financial crisis that saw massive banks earn billion-dollar bailouts from the federal government.
‘We have a serious crisis in confidence on our hands, across all boundaries in the U.S.,’ Center project manager Seth Rosenthal said. ‘Especially now, we hear the words ‘confidence crisis’ on what seems like every financial or news channel.’
Confidence in leaders in all the sectors fell more sharply over the past year than ever before, Boston University political science professor Douglas Kriner said.
‘There has been a general decline in trust in leaders and political institutions since the 1970s,’ he said. ‘With the recent war and economic crisis, we’ve seen an even more rapid decline.’
Congress has the lowest approval rating yet and Bush has the highest disapproval rating on record.
Kriner said he does not believe the quality of American leadership has actually declined, attributing the shirt to public ‘perception.’
‘I don’t believe we have seen a drop in leadership. There are still many talented public servants, but they are facing challenges they have never had to face before.’
The American people have not recently felt a real connection with their leaders, College of Communication senior Brandon Kramer said.’
‘When you think of what the word ‘leader’ means, Bush has not been, for our generation especially,’ he said. ‘The majority of people have not felt that Bush has truly represented them. His job is to lead the country and connect the people, which he has failed to do.’