OHIO Voter survey reveals cynicism

Most of those polled say politicians lie, twist the truth and will say or do anything to get elected.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A survey of Ohio voters shows they have low expectations about the behavior of politicians, are tired of negative campaigning and want more information about the issues.
The report, released today by the Institute for Global Ethics, says that 53 percent of Ohio voters think that all or most politicians lie, 58 percent say politicians twist the truth, and 60 percent think politicians will say or do anything to get elected.
"We found no surprises; people don't like to be lied to and feel there's too much negative campaigning," said Brad Rourke, director of IGE's Project on Campaign Conduct. "What is interesting is we discovered that people feel very strongly about this. This survey codifies that and puts numbers to what we all feel in our gut."
IGE is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public policy think tank that promotes ethics in politics. It engaged the polling firms of Lake, Snell, Perry & amp; Associates, which works primarily with Democrats, and Deardourff/The Media Co., which works mainly with Republicans, to conduct the survey of 500 Ohio residents who voted in the 2000 presidential election. The telephone survey, conducted Nov. 16-27, has a 4.4 percent margin of error. The polling firms are in Washington, D.C.
The same firms conducted an IGE poll of Ohio voters in 1998.
More cynical: In comparing the two polls, voters in the recent poll have become more cynical toward politicians and think negative campaigning is more pervasive.
For example, 50 percent of those surveyed in the 2000 poll strongly agreed that negative campaigns damage democracy, compared with 38 percent in 1998. Also, 37 percent of those asked in 2000 strongly agreed that negative campaigning produces unethical leaders, compared with 32 percent in 1998.
"Voters are not cynical and turned off and angry as much as they are disappointed and frustrated because they think it can be better," Rourke said.
Fifty-two percent of those polled said their local politicians have a different set of values than they do.
Ohio voters said the 2000 presidential election was less ethical than previous elections and categorized the advertisements that ran on television and radio as unfair.
What matters: When deciding whom to vote for, those polled said they are most interested in information about a candidate's position on issues, record and accomplishments. Voters want candidates to be consistent in their words and actions and think it is fair to criticize a candidate who is inconsistent.
About one-third of Ohio voters consider personal behavior the most important information they can have about a candidate.
Ohio voters also favor a code of campaign conduct for candidates to follow that would discourage politicians from using negative personal attacks against one another.