Worldwide survey has politicians as least-trusted profession

NEWS AND OPINION:

The world appears to agree on one thing. Politicians are the least trusted profession on the planet, according to a massive Ipsos “Global Trustworthiness Index” poll of 19,570 adults conducted in 28 countries.

On average, only 10% of the respondents felt that politicians were “trustworthy.”

That negative finding ranged from a low of 3% in Argentina to a high of 19% in Malaysia. The U.S. was just about in the middle with 9% of respondents saying they trusted politicians — a finding shared with respondents in Poland, Italy, South Korea and Mexico.

Politicians had some company at the rock bottom of the poll, which has been conducted since 2018. “Government ministers” are trusted by 14%, advertising executives by 15%, and journalists by 23%.

Doctors were at the top of the list, trusted by 64% of the respondents. The top five was rounded out by scientists (62%), teachers (55%), members of the armed forces (42%) and “ordinary men and women” (38%).

“Many other professions remain at similar levels to those recorded in pre-pandemic waves, including politicians, who have been bottom of the list in all three years,” an analysis of the poll findings said.

The survey was conducted April 23-May 7 and released Tuesday. Respondents were polled in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the U.S.

WHAT BIDEN SHOULD HAVE DONE

Things are not going swimmingly for President Biden these days and haven’t for quite some time. Even his biggest fans are beginning to notice.

“Try not to spill anything as you laugh at Democrats as they realize in October 2021 that Joe Biden is a lousy leader, overpromising and underdelivering, and stumbling badly when he needs to communicate clearly,” wrote Jim Geraghty, a National Review columnist.

He cited such troubling trends as ongoing supply-chain woes, skyrocketing gas and grocery prices, a foundering economic recovery and a U.S. public debt of $28.4 trillion. Mr. Geraghty also recalled that during his campaign for the White House, Mr. Biden pledged that he would “cure cancer” if elected, a promise made in a speech on June 11, 2019.

“Biden also promised to cut prescription-drug prices by 60%, put Social Security on a path to solvency, make public colleges and universities tuition-free for families who earn less than $125,000 a year, and to create 4.4 million jobs by September 2021. Biden doesn’t know how to do any of this. He just thinks that if he throws money at a problem, it will get solved,” Mr. Geraghty continued.

Meanwhile, the president’s approval ratings are weak and the national messaging on COVID-19 booster shots is vague.

“Biden seems to have absorbed liberal historians’ suggestion that he can be the next Franklin Roosevelt or Lyndon Johnson, but ignores the fact that he doesn’t have large, like-minded congressional majorities. Ironically, there was one role Biden might have excelled in, the one he posed in while winning the Democratic primary: the moderate, wise elder statesman who tells the progressive wing of his party ‘no’ when they go too far. But that’s the role Biden has chosen to abdicate,” Mr. Geraghty noted.

$120 MILLION IN STEEL

Along with a humanitarian disaster, the southern U.S. border is also the site of a money-wasting disaster.

Bill Melugin, an enterprising national correspondent for Fox News, had the wherewithal to obtain drone footage of one specific area in particular.

He went to Pharr, Texas — a city of some 79,000 in southern Hidalgo County — and one is connected by the three-mile long Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, which spans the Rio Grande, crosses the U.S.-Mexico border and connects with the Mexican city of Reynosa.

“What does it look like to not build the border wall? Our drone is overhead in Pharr at one location where steel for the border wall has been baking in the sun and going to waste since January. Tens of millions of dollars worth of steel here are already paid for,” Mr. Melugin tweeted Wednesday.

Indeed, his footage shows some 20 million steel panels originally intended to construct an effective border barrier. These panels are worth $120 million he says — and are already paid for with taxpayer money.

The huge amount of steel had a high-profile destiny at one point. It was enough to build 100 miles of the wall, a project which got underway during former President Donald Trump’s time in office — but was halted by President Biden.

On Feb. 11, he formally terminated Mr. Trump’s previous declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and stopped government funds which went toward the border wall construction. Mr. Biden on April 30 canceled any further construction.

FOXIFIED

During the week of Oct. 4-10, Fox News Channel celebrated its 25th anniversary and, for the eighth straight week, averaged more prime-time viewers than its two biggest rivals combined. According to Nielsen Media Research, FNC drew 2.3 million viewers in those hours while MSNBC had an audience of 1.2 million and CNN of 696,000.

Daytime programming has had particular success. “America’s Newsroom” drew an average 1.7 million viewers as did “The Faulkner Focus,” Nielsen said. “Outnumbered” enjoyed an audience of 1.8 million and “America Reports” an audience of 1.6 million.

For the eight straight week, all of them outpaced NBC’s “Today with Hoda and Jenna” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” — which both drew 1.5 million viewers.

POLL DU JOUR

• 59% of U.S. adults are “closely” following news about the current crisis situation on the U.S./Mexico border.

• 45% of this group blame the Biden administration for the border situation.

• 25% blame the Trump administration.

• 18% blame both administrations.

• 8% blame neither administration

• 4% are not sure whom to blame.

SOURCE: An Issues & Answers/TIPP poll of 1,308 U.S. adults conducted Sept. 29-Oct. 2.

• Helpful information to jharper@washingtontimes.com