Ethics and reform poll results
Thursday, Jun 19, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The goo-goos have a new poll…
Residents of Illinois clearly express distrust in their state government. A large majority of residents (77% overall) trusts government to do what is right “only some of the time” (52%) or “almost never” (25%). Just two in ten (20%) trust government “most of the time” and only three percent “almost always” trust state government to do what is right. Distrust of state government has increased since 2006 when 64% trusted state government “some of the time” or “almost never.”
I guess you could look at it the other way. 72 percent trust the government some or all the time. But I see their point.
* This result is undoubtedly a reflection of the revelations about governors Ryan and Blagojevich…
For Illinoisans, “corruption in state government” and “the influence of money in state politics” continue to be major concerns; nearly half (49%) say they are “extremely” concerned about corruption in state government, and almost the same number (46%) is “extremely” concerned about money in politics.
Corruption and the influence of money in politics rate with the economy (45%), public schools (42%) and health care (41%) as serious concerns, and rate above jobs (39%) and taxes (37%). The only concern more salient than corruption and money in politics for Illinoisans is gas prices (68%).
* The public is either hopeful or they’re suckers. Let’s be charitable and assume they’re hopeful…
Despite their lack of trust in government, Illinoisans still have hope for change in state government.
A majority (58%) disagrees that “money will always influence government decisions, so it is not worth trying to reduce the amount of money in politics,” while 41% agree. Sixty-seven percent reject the idea that “corruption in government will always be a problem, so trying to fix it will not make much difference,” while only 33% agree.
* One of the issues currently in play now is the ethics bill sitting on the governor’s desk. There appears to be a strong majority who think this bill will make a difference…
“Not allow state contractors to make political contributions to elected officials who issue contracts” (88% make a difference; 61% “big
difference”)
* Other issues…
• “Require lobbyists to fully report their clients, what issues they are
working on, and the money they spend on lobbying lawmakers” (88% make a difference; 61% “big difference”)
• “Pass tougher campaign finance laws to limit the amount of money special interest groups can give to candidates and political parties” (86% make a difference; 57% “big difference”)
* Public financing…
• “Public financing of campaigns which would use tax dollars to give
candidates the same amount of money to run their campaigns and not allow them to take money from special interests” (81% make a difference; 58% “big difference”)
• “Public financing of campaigns which would use tax dollars to give candidates the same amount of money to run their campaigns and limit spending by each candidate” (80% make a difference; 54% “big difference”)
• “Public financing for election of judges – that is letting judges use tax dollars to finance their campaigns rather than asking for contributions from lawyers and special interest groups” (74% make a difference; 42% “big difference”)
* This is one that really ought to be in any new Constitution…
• “Instead of allowing politicians to be in charge of redrawing their own district lines every ten years, establish independent, non-partisan commissions to draw district lines” (81% make a difference; 52% “big difference”)
Read the whole thing.
Thoughts?
[The 2008 Belden Russonello & Stewart survey for the Midwest Democracy Network (www.midwestdemocracynetwork.org) is a random sample telephone survey of adults… In Illinois 402 interviews were conducted… by telephone April 21 through May 4, 2008… The margin of sampling error for the Illinois survey is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points at the 95% level of tolerance… The survey was funded by the Joyce Foundation]
