Sunday, December 27, 1998

Three Decades of Change

Since the 1960s, Americans have grown deeply suspicious of the federal government and increasingly worry that the country's moral and ethical standards have eroded.

Q. How much of the time do you trust the government in Washington to do the right thing: Just about always, most of the time, or only some of the time?

                                    1968         1998

All/Most                             61%          33%

Some/None                            36           65

Q. In your opinion, which of the following do you think will be the biggest threat to the country in the future: big business, big labor or big government?

                                   1965          1998

Big business                        17%           25%

Big labor                           29            11

Big government                      35            59

Don't know                          18             6

Q. Do you think people in general today lead as good lives -- honest and moral -- as they used to?

                                    1965         1998

Yes                                  39%          26%

No                                   52           71

Looking Ahead

Voters say that a candidate's stands on the important issues will matter most when they select a president in the year 2000. Still, about one in four say personal morals or the broad principles and values a candidate stands for will be the deciding factors for them. And a majority fear the country is becoming too tolerant of harmful behavior.

Q. Which of the following do you think will be most important to you in choosing the next president?

The candidate's stands on the issues: 37%

The candidate's personal morals and ethics: 16%

The broad principles and values a candidate campaigns on: 10%

The candidate's experience: 10%

The candidate's political party: 8%

All of the above: 10%

None of the above: 4%

Q. Which of the following worries you more about the future: That the country will become too tolerant of behaviors that are bad for society, or that the country will become too intolerant of behaviors that do not do any real harm to society?

Too tolerant                                      55%

Too intolerant                                    38

Most Americans believe President Clinton has low moral and ethical standards -- just like the rest of his generation.

Q. Please tell me whether the following statement applies to Clinton, or not: He has high personal moral and ethical standards.

Yes                                               24%

No                                                71

Better                                             7%

Worse                                             27

Same                                              61

The Survey Team

These surveys are the fifth in a series of projects that The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University are conducting on contemporary issues.

Representatives of the three sponsors worked closely to develop the survey questionnaire and analyze the results on which this series is based. The Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation, with Harvard University, are publishing independent summaries of the findings; each organization bears the sole responsibility for the work that appears under its name. The Kaiser Family Foundation and The Post paid for the surveys and related expenses.

The survey data will be sent later this year to the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Connecticut, where copies of the survey questionnaire and data will be available.

The project team included Richard Morin, Post director of polling, and Claudia Deane, assistant director of polling; Robert J. Blendon, a Harvard University professor who holds joint appointments in the School of Public Health and the Kennedy School of Government, and John Benson, deputy director for public opinion and health/social policy at the Harvard School of Public Health; Drew Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation; and Mollyann Brodie, director of special projects for the Kaiser Foundation, a nonprofit organization that sponsors research into health care and other public policy issues.