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Commentary
Public Perspective, July/August 2001
Bill McInturff and Lori Weigel are partners, Public Opinion Strategies.
There are reasons John McCain's town hall approach to politics sparked interest and enthusiasm in the presidential primaries over a year ago. For a public weary of the
poll-driven policies of the Clinton administration, the McCain style of direct interaction with the voters, campaigning against special interests under the rubric of campaign finance reform, and "straight talk" seemed to catch fire all by itself. Those reasons are spelled out quite vividly in the new Kaiser/Public Perspective survey on polling and democracy. Americans still do not feel they are being heard in Washington and want more direct interaction with government officials. And although the public is distrustful of government and politics, the news media are carrying forward that cynicism to a greater degree than ever previously suspected. (59%) said that politicians pay a great
deal of attention to their campaign contributors when making decisions about important issues-more than any of the eight other groups or factors tested, including policymakers' own knowledge on the issue (35%), their on decisions in Washington. This
contrasts with the 59% of the public and 43% of policy leaders who said campaign contributors have a great deal of influence, and the 45% of both samples who said lobbyists and special interest groups have that level more ...
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