Americans hold Congress, Wall Street/corporations responsible for financial situation
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Ken Eudy
919 882 1962
RALEIGH, N.C., June 9, 2009 – Americans say that Congress and Wall Street/corporations share equal responsibility for the current state of the U.S. economy, according to a recent Capstrat-Public Policy Polling nationwide survey.
Some 30 percent of voters interviewed named Wall Street/corporations and Congress when given the choice among Wall Street/corporations, Congress, overreaching consumers and mortgage lenders.
Twenty-one percent of survey respondents blamed overreaching consumers, 19 percent blamed mortgage lenders.
When asked what or who is best able to fix the economy, 34 percent said Congress, 33 percent said overreaching consumers and 21 percent look to Wall Street/corporations.
The interactive-voice-response (IVR) poll also asked 629 voters about transparency of U.S. institutions. Small businesses were rated somewhat or very transparent by 84 percent of respondents, compared to 32 percent for corporations. In last month’s survey, 40 percent of respondents nationwide said they had confidence in small businesses, compared to only 8 percent who said they had confidence in corporations.
“Transparency may not always translate into confidence, but in the case of small business vs. corporations, a correlation could be made,” said Capstrat CEO, Ken Eudy. “In these uncertain times, businesses should pay attention to whether their business practices appear to be transparent to their stakeholders. The reality of saying one thing while behaving another way undermines the perception of transparency and, in the final analysis, confidence in the business.”
Some 50 percent said news media were very or somewhat transparent, and 37 percent said the government was very or somewhat transparent.
The national survey, conducted by the Public Policy Polling May 27-28, 2009, polled 629 adults. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
Find the survey questionnaire and results at Public Policy Polling .
| Institution | Not very transparent | Somewhat transparent | Very transparent | Little confidence | Some confidence | A lot of confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government | 62% | 28% | 9% | 50% | 23% | 27% |
| Corporations | 68% | 27% | 5% | 52% | 41% | 8% |
| Small Businesses | 16% | 60% | 24% | 14% | 46% | 40% |
| Media | 50% | 37% | 13% | 60% | 35% | 5% |
About Capstrat
Capstrat is a communications agency based in Raleigh, N.C. The firm specializes in communications for complex issues that health care, technology, energy/infrastructure and financial organizations face at critical moments. Capstrat provides public relations, marketing communications, interactive communications and public affairs.
About Public Policy Polling
Public Policy Polling has conducted regional and national surveys since 1991. The firm employs Interactive Voice Response or IVR methodology. Just as polling evolved from mail-in surveys and door-to-door interviewers to live telephone interviewers, the polling industry is now evolving into automated telephone surveys (IVR) and internet polling. An analysis by the Wall Street Journal of swing state polls in the 2008 presidential campaign concluded that Public Policy Polling was among the two most accurate survey firms.
