Originally Posted by Wavey

I'll say it again: Don't focus on the 84% and conclude that most Americans are retards. Don't focus on the 53% and think that that is the percentage of people that mistrust the government. Because this is not what the poll results are saying at all.

The poll actually validates the exact opposite of what the article written about it is trying to prove. The poll question asks, "Do you think members of the Bush Administration are telling the truth, are mostly telling the truth but hiding something, or are they mostly lying?"

So, 53% + 16% = 69% think that the members of the Bush Administration are telling the truth or mostly telling the truth. So, 69% is mostly TRUSTING the government. Only 28% mostly mistrust the government.

And then apparently, when the poll did not give the results the author of this article was looking/hoping for, he decided to MAKE them say what he wanted them to say:
a. He ignored the first half of the 53% answer -- the "mostly telling the truth" part -- and just took the second half, the "hiding something" part, so that he could lump this 53% into the "mistrust" category.
b. He threw in the 3% "Not Sure" category, because of course, "not sure" must mean deep mistrust also. :- Yeah, that's a real scientific result. Take the group that says that it is undecided and lump it into the statistic that serves your agenda.