YOU CAN'T FOOL ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME – AT 11:16 A.M. ET:  A new Harris poll shows that, once again, the American people are a lot smarter than the Washington elites think they are.  They see through the press fluff and the "I'm here to make a difference" crowd:

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For 44 years, since 1966, The Harris Poll has measured how confident the American people are in the leaders of major U.S. institutions. Based on the responses, Harris calculates an overall Confidence Index. Over the years it has gone up and down. In 2002, it touched 65. In 2008, it fell to 44. This year it stands at 53, one point lower than in early 2009.

However, this lack of movement in the Confidence Index is the result of a number of increases and decreases in confidence in the leaders of different institutions. The biggest change since early 2009 is the substantial drop in public confidence in the White House. Those with a “great deal of confidence” have fallen by 9 points from 36% to 27%.

Gee, I wonder why.  You don't think it has anything to do with The One, do you? 

There have also been declines in those with a great deal of confidence in colleges and universities (from 40% to 35%), organized religion (from 30% to 26%) and television news (from 22% to 17%).

None of that surprises me, including the decline in organized religion.  Many religious groups on the left became cheerleaders for Obama, rather than for their traditional values.

This year there are five institutions that have leaders who inspire a great deal of confidence in more than 30% of Americans:

The military (59%);
Small business (50%);
Major educational institutions, such as colleges and universities (35%);
Medicine (34%); and,
The U.S. Supreme Court (31%).

On the other side of the list, there are five institutions that have leaders who inspire a great deal of confidence in less than 15% of Americans:

Organized labor (14%);
The press (13%);
Law firms (13%);
Congress (8%); and,
Wall Street (8%).

In fact, almost half of Americans say they have hardly any confidence at all in the leaders of both Congress (48%) and Wall Street (45%).

COMMENT:  These things go up and down, but the gap between great confidence in the military (59%) and the press (13%) might give a hint to the barons of journalism as to why so many news outlets are in such trouble.  It ain't the internet.

March 12, 2010