In a new Public Strategies Inc./POLITICO national survey of 1,000 registered voters, Obama outdistances figures on both the left and the right in earning the public’s trust, with two-thirds of respondents saying they trust the president “to identify the right solutions to the problems we face as a nation.” Poll: Obama earns nation's trust

Three months into his presidency, Barack Obama stands out as perhaps the most trusted figure in American politics.

In a new Public Strategies Inc./POLITICO national survey of 1,000 registered voters, Obama outdistances figures on both the left and the right in earning the public’s trust, with two-thirds of respondents saying they trust the president “to identify the right solutions to the problems we face as a nation.”


Of those who said they trust the president, 31 percent said they trust him “a great deal.” An additional 35 percent said they have “some” trust that Obama will find the correct solution. Thirty-one percent said they trust Obama either “not very much” or “not at all.”

Voters were asked the same question of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Republican Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, former Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh and the two major political parties. Among those choices, only the Democratic Party was trusted to find the right solutions by a majority of voters, 52 percent to 40 percent. Forty percent of those surveyed said they trusted the Republican Party, compared with 54 percent who did not trust the GOP.

Only 26 percent said they trust Pelosi, the lowest total in the group. Palin attracted the highest percentage of those who did not trust her at all to identify the right solutions, topping Pelosi 33 percent to 32 percent. Romney got a mixed reaction, with 38 percent of voters saying they trust him and 39 percent saying they don’t.

Obama also ranked as one of the most credible voices on the economy, outdistanced only by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. Four in five voters find Gates credible “as a source of information on the U.S. economy,” topping the 71 percent who said the same of the president. Investor Warren Buffett ranked third, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke finished fourth.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Obama’s point man on the economy, is found credible by 56 percent of the public, trailing Buffett, Bernanke, former President Bill Clinton and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Romney, the Republicans’ top performer in the category, tied with Geithner.

While voters have confidence in Obama, numbers across the board for the federal government and Washington remain close to where they were at the end of George W. Bush’s presidency.

In the Public Trust Monitor poll, which was conducted March 27-31, 63 percent said they trust the United States government to do what is right, up only 6 percentage points from December 2008.

The poll showed the same slight uptick in trust that an Obama-led government will manage its finances responsibly. Forty percent said they trust the government to handle its money, compared with 34 percent in December.

Those polled were optimistic that things will improve.

The number of respondents who said the federal government is headed in the right direction surged to more than half, 54 percent — a big jump from December, when 35 percent said the same.

Nearly the same percentage of respondents, 56 percent, expressed faith that the $787 billion stimulus will improve the state of the economy, compared with 26 percent who said the stimulus will have a negative impact and 18 percent who believe the president’s package will have no impact.

Those polled did not express the same level of confidence that the federal stimulus will improve their personal financial situation. Nearly half said the package will have no effect on them, while 36 percent said the stimulus will have a positive effect. Twenty percent said it would negatively affect them.

And voters are split on how the stimulus package has affected their trust in government. An equal number of respondents, 34 percent, said the stimulus package either increased or decreased their faith in government. The remaining 32 percent said their opinion had not changed.

At the same time, voters showed trust in the president to do what is best with the approved funds. When asked who they trust most to ensure that the stimulus is being spent as intended, 54 percent said the Obama administration, while only 21 percent said Congress and 26 percent answered the media.

Overall, voters are giving Obama wide latitude on how to act on the economy, which 87 percent characterized as “weak.”

Those polled showed little trust in corporate America and backed up their feelings with a desire for stricter regulation.

Only 37 percent said they trust corporations to do what is right. One in five said federal regulation of corporations should be decreased while 61 percent said regulation should be increased.

Sentiment favoring regulations was especially strong when applied to the financial sector, with 35 percent expressing fear that the federal government will not go far enough to regulate the industry over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, 35 percent think the government will regulate the financial industry the right amount, and only 31 percent worry the government will go too far.

The lack of institutional trust in corporations was focused on several sectors in particular. Nearly three in four said they have a worse opinion of the financial services industry than they did a year ago. A similar drop in opinion affected mortgage banking, where 75 percent had a worse opinion, and the automotive industry, where the figure was 64 percent.

While voters are giving the president a long leash in dealing with the economy, they also expressed concern that the federal government will go too far in bailing out troubled companies. More than half said the government is likely to overstep in providing financial assistance, while only 11 percent said direct aid will not go far enough.

The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percent.