Most People Believe the President and Republicans Make Things Sound Better Than They Are

The Public is Skeptical of All Major News Sources About Iraq, Distrusts Military Leaders the Least

The public has become deeply skeptical of all the major sources of news about events in Iraq. Most people see them as either making the news sound better than it is, or making it sound worse than it is. Only minorities (mostly small minorities) believe that any of the six sources covered in this Harris Poll "get the balance about right".

Majorities of all adults believe that President George W. Bush and Republican leaders "make things sound better than they are". Majorities also think that Democratic leaders and TV reporters "make things sound worse than they are". And 50 percent think that newspapers do this.

These are some of the results of a Harris Poll of 2,383 adults surveyed online between May 8 and 14, 2007 by Harris Interactive.

The major findings of this survey include:

• A 62 percent majority of adults believe that President Bush makes events in Iraq sound better than they are. Only 13 percent trust him to report events there more than other sources. And, he tops the list of those who are least trusted by a substantial margin (40% compared to 23% for Democratic Leaders);
• A 54 percent majority believe that Republican Leaders make things sound better than they are and only 17 percent think they get the balance about right;
• While Military Leaders compare favorably with other sources, only 35 percent of adults think they get the balance about right and 39 percent think they put a positive spin on events; and
• A 56 percent majority of the public thinks that Democratic Leaders put a negative spin on events in Iraq, making them sound worse than they are.

Media Coverage of Iraq

Editors, journalists and media owners will be unhappy to see how few people trust them to provide fair and balanced reporting of events in Iraq. A 54 percent majority of adults think TV reporters make things in Iraq sound worse than they are and only 20 percent think they get the balance about right. And, 50 percent of the public believe that Newspapers also make the news from Iraq sound worse than it is, compared to 25 percent who think they get the balance about right.

In Conclusion: Not Much Trust in Anyone

The big picture, therefore, is that the public is deeply skeptical of all the major sources of news from Iraq. They tend to believe that the President and Republicans (and to a lesser degree, the Military) put a positive spin on events there, and that Democrats and the media spin them the other way.

TABLE 1

HOW VARIOUS PEOPLE AND INSTITUTIONS ARE BELIEVED TO SPIN THE NEWS FROM IRAQ

"When reporting or commenting on events in Iraq, do you think each of the following tend to make things sound better than they are, worse than they are, or do they get the balance about right?"

Base: All Adults

	Make It Sound Better	Make It Sound Worse	Get Balance About Right	Not Sure
	%	%	%	%
President Bush	62	8	18	13
Republican Leaders	54	10	17	19
Military Leaders	39	9	35	17
Television Reporters	10	54	20	16
Newspapers	8	50	25	17
Democratic Leaders	6	56	20	17

Note: Percentages may not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 2

WHOSE ACCOUNTS OF EVENTS IN IRAQ PEOPLE TRUST THE MOST?

"If all of these gave different accounts of events in Iraq, which one would you trust most?"

Base: All Adults

	Total	Party ID
		Republican	Democrat	Independent
	%	%	%	%
Military Leaders	37	47	24	46
Newspapers	17	6	23	18
Democratic Leaders	14	1	31	10
Television Reporters	14	6	17	16
President Bush	13	29	5	6
Republican Leaders	4	10	*	3

Note: Percentages m
ay not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding.

*Less Than 0.5%

TABLE 3

WHOSE ACCOUNTS OF EVENTS IN IRAQ PEOPLE TRUST THE LEAST?

"If all of these gave different accounts of events in Iraq, which one would you trust least?"

Base: All Adults

	Total	Party ID
		Republican	Democrat	Independent
	%	%	%	%
President Bush	40	11	64	43
Democratic Leaders	23	45	4	22
Television Reporters	16	27	8	13
Republican Leaders	10	3	14	11
Newspapers	8	11	5	9
Military Leaders	4	4	5	3

Note: Percentages may not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding.

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between May 8 and 14, 2007 among 2,383 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

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Q536, 541Source: Harris Interactive