ShareThisThe following are results of a survey of 1,001 adult residents of the United States conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University. The telephone survey was conducted from Feb. 3 to March 9 and was sponsored under a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation.
Here are some questions about whether you feel government in America is open and transparent or whether you think government is closed and secretive. When talking about the local government in your community, do you think local government is very open, somewhat open, somewhat secretive or very secretive?
Very Open .......................... 15
Somewhat Open ...................... 45
Somewhat Secretive ................. 24
Very Secretive ..................... 12
Don't Know/Other Response ........... 4
How about your state government? Is it very open, somewhat open, somewhat secretive or very secretive?
Very Open ........................... 8
Somewhat Open ...................... 39
Somewhat Secretive ................. 33
Very Secretive ..................... 15
Don't Know/Other Response ........... 5
How about the federal government based in Washington, D.C.?
Very Open ........................... 4
Somewhat Open ...................... 21
Somewhat Secretive ................. 26
Very Secretive ..................... 44
Don't Know/Other Response ........... 5
During his first year in office, President Barack Obama ordered all federal agencies to adopt what he called a "presumption in favor of disclosure" when handling requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Are you familiar with this order?
Yes ................................ 32
No ................................. 66
Don't Know/Other Response ........... 2
(Only among those answering "yes" to above.) Do you think Obama's order has made federal agencies more open when people ask for information, or not?
Made Agencies More Open ............ 32
Did Not Make Agencies More Open .... 47
Don't Know/Other Response .......... 21
(Asked of Everyone) Overall, do you feel there is more secrecy, less secrecy or about the same amount of secrecy in the Obama administration as in the previous administration?
More Secrecy ....................... 22
Less Secrecy ....................... 34
About Same Amount of Secrecy ....... 38
Don't Know/Other Response ........... 6
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
