Crisis of confidence about politicians?

International GfK survey on the confidence people have in political and business leaders and organizations

Nuremberg, Germany (ots) - It is bad news for politicians and their image in Europe as well as in the USA. GfK Ad Hoc Research Worldwide questioned people in 19 European countries and the USA and found that the majority of the approx. 1,000 respondents in each country believed that politicians were not trustworthy. Managers of big companies and journalists fared little better in the survey. In all of the countries the majority of respondents indicated that they trusted teachers and doctors more than any of the other professions listed. The armed forces, police and the clergy come next and are seen as trustworthy by the majority of people in most of the countries surveyed. However, in Russia, Romania and the Czech Republic, the image of the police is not quite as good. Although positive, trust in the clergy in the Czech Republic, Spain, France and Belgium is below average.

Overall, managers and political, social and commercial organizations are regarded particularly favourably in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Turkey, where the outcome was above average. Hungarians, Greeks and the French are particularly critical of their leaders.

GfK Trust Index: Politicians have the worst reputation

GfK Trust Index* Mai 2004	Politicians	Managers of large enterprises	Journalists	Lawyers	Clergy	Policemen	the Army	Doctors	School Teachers
Austria	15	34	35	55	66	76	62	91	76
Belgium	25	45	56	49	48	73	56	89	82
Denmark	26	60	25	61	79	85	60	81	76
Finland	24	52	43	72	76	90	83	92	84
France	12	33	31	47	38	63	63	86	78
Germany	6	18	36	62	67	78	68	82	76
Greece	11	40	43	31	61	60	67	78	80
Italy	9	31	28	33	51	79	72	76	66
Netherlands	32	35	37	60	57	74	70	91	90
Spain	28	37	56	46	36	73	59	82	81
Sweden	24	43	32	82	67	86	67	94	89
Switzerland	29	26	39	56	51	80	62	85	78
United Kingdom	16	34	19	53	69	76	75	86	85
WESTERN EUROPE	15	31	34	51	55	74	67	83	78
Czech Republic	10	27	46	52	42	49	64	89	83
Hungary	14	32	26	52	44	55	54	81	75
Poland	6	21	58	41	56	58	69	74	79
Romania	18	47	68	54	77	49	82	77	85
CENTRAL EUROPE	11	32	55	47	59	54	70	78	81
Russia (ungrouped)	12	27	31	58	57	28	51	70	78
Turkey (ungrouped)	30	54	47	63	71	76	91	87	92
USA (ungrouped)	17	32	41	39	72	80	79	84	86
TOTAL	16	32	38	49	62	67	70	81	82

* Level of trust in selected professions (Share of those choosing answers 3 or 4 out of scale

from 1 to 4, where 1 means "distrust a lot", 2 means "distrust a little", 3 means "trust a little"

and 4 means "trust a lot")

Source: GfK Ad Hoc Research Worldwide, August 2004