What do you think?

Polls don't lie, people do.

Which profession is viewed most "trustworthy?" Clergy toppled from the top spot of trustworthy professions in 2002 to 64 percent, 26 percentage points less than 2001. Teachers are viewed most likely to tell the truth (80 percent) although this profession dropped eight percentage points from year 2001. President George W Bush shares a 65 percent rating along with court judges and the "ordinary" man or woman. TV newscasters are seen as untrustworthy by 54 percent of respondents, journalists untrustworthy by 61 percent, Congressmen/women untrustworthy by 65 percent, and lawyers are viewed untrustworthy by 76 percent of those asked. But 77 of 100 adults say stockbrokers are least likely to tell the truth.

Who can you trust?
Priests Journalists Lawyers Teachers Doctors Scientists You and me	No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes

Polls are used to measure a community's perception. They are also used to measure and count upon winning an election. George W Bush will follow polls closely in 2004 to make sure he keeps a strong lead. His staff will use polls to reach out to voters based upon their measured values. Religion will likely remain a strong value in Bush's re-election campaign, since a substantial percentage of voters view religion as an important value.

In early May 2003, Gallup asked 1,000 adults questions around morally acceptable issues in The United States.

Divorce, the death penalty, gambling, medical testing on animals, and wearing animal fur, where decided to be "morally acceptable behavior" by more than 6 in 10 respondents. Doctor assisted suicide, homosexual behavior, abortion, cloning animals, and suicide, were "morally wrong" say the majority of respondents. Cloning humans, polygamy, and extra-marital affairs topped the list as morally wrong by 9 out of 10 respondents.

Polls do in fact gauge the effects media coverage plays upon issues. Prior to the Roman Catholic Church's pedophilia blitz in early 2002, adults gave a favorability rating to the Catholic Church of 63 percent. At the close of 2002, and after the media had exhausted headline news around pedophile priests, the favorability fell to 40 percent, with an unfavorable opinion peaking at 52 percent. Catholics on the other hand did not decrease favorable ratings of their own religious organization by much. Eighty-eight percent favorable in February 2002, dropped to 69 percent in December, with an unfavorable rating of 30 percent. Catholics and adults surveyed were closer in respect to their approval rating of how the Catholic Church handled pedophila in 2002. Of all adults questioned, 76 percent disapproved of the Church's handling of sexual abuse cases, while only 69 percent of Catholics disapproved.

Are you immoral?
Divorced Gambler Wear furs Homosexual	No No No Yes

The role religion plays in one's life has actually varied little since 1965 according to polls. The range of 55-61 percent of adults say religion is an important value in their lives, while between 11-15 percent say it is not a value at all. Whether or not religion has increased its influence in The United States since 1957 when the question was first asked, September 11, 2001 was the likely reason for an upswing in religious popularity, however that rating too has slipped back to where it was for most of the 1990s at 43 percent. Even for the past 70 years, the number of adults who align with a religious institution has varied little. The highest rate of 75 percent occurred in 1944, and the lowest of 64 percent occurred in March 2002. Meanwhile it is a minority of adults who attend services of any kind regularly, or roughly 4 in 10. Two percent of respondents are Jewish, 3 percent are Mormon, 26 percent are Catholic, and 53 percent are Protestant. Since 1947, Protestant samples have decreased by 16 percent, while Catholic sampling increased by 6 percent.

Those who think religion can solve problems remains high at 59 percent, although that is the lowest rating since data began in 1957. Twenty-four percent of respondents said religion is out of date. Three in 10 people said the Bible is the actual word of God, while 5 in 10 say it is only an inspirational word of God. Ten percent of respondents worry most that they will end up in "hell."

Adults say, the reasons for the Roman Catholic Church's pedophilia problem are (in order) not calling the police when a priest is accused (95 percent); inadequate screening of men in seminary schools (79 percent); policy forbidding priests to marry (75 percent); the number of priests who are gay (69 percent).

Measuring moral values in the population maybe the best way to ensure we are living in a fairly sane society... while "fairly sane" itself can't be measured by polls because the measurement of sanity varies for each of us. Meanwhile, the leaders of morality continue to be the most admired man and woman in The United States of America. George W Bush took top spot for the second year in a row at 28 percent, topping Pope John Paul II by 25 percentage points, and Billy Graham by 26 percentage points. The most admired woman for the second year in a row was Hillary Clinton, who edged past Oprah Winfrey and First Lady Laura Bush by 1 percentage point. Do you agree with the polls? Think and ask.

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