https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2016/10/11/americas-top-fears-2016/



Very interesting.

Of the top-10 fears of people in the USA, 3 of them involve Government.

#1: Corruption of Government Officials @ 60.6%

#5: Government restrictions on firearms and ammunition @ 38.5%

and

#10: The (un)Affordable Health Care Act aka Obamacare @ 35.5%

This might prove instructive for those not familiar with the USA Citizens' fears and motivations.

FYI, the score for 'Police Brutality' was only 19.6% (56th place?).

Your thoughts?

---

https://youtu.be/iY57ErBkFFE

#Texit

Don't blame me, I voted for Johnson(L) in 2016.

Truth is dangerous... especially when it challenges those in power.

60% crosses a lot of demographic/political lines.

This will make for an serious/interesting word/phrase bingo for up and coming trash talks er umm debates I meant. ;^)

---

...

Interesting yes, but it is just a list in most part about perceptions.

Corrupt Officials Do you have any figures on how many corrupt officials there has been recently and how does that compare to periods in the past?

Terrorist Attacks As the US is probably less likely to an external organised terrorist attack than say European countries, I would put this down, at this moment in time, to Trump and his bleak outlook on the US and the World.

Inadequate Funds for the future Probably should be #1 in my book, especially for the younger generation. Thanks to WW2 we have the 'baby boomer' generation entering retirement, the increase in life expectancy due to better science and the present day reduction in new births. We get the problem that there are less and less young people paying for more and more old people.
The US needs those immigrants, to help pay the costs.

Victim of Terrorism This one is totally a figment of the US minds. The chances of any US citizen being a victim are very very small. You are more likely to be killed or injured by furniture falling on you in your own home.
The Netherlands, per capita, had more people killed in the aircraft shot down over Ukraine than the US suffered on 9/11.

Gun Control There does need to be more control of guns, mainly for people who shouldn't have them. (And no, that doesn't alter my position that that I think guns should be removed from all who don't need them for their jobs or because they live in rural area's with dangerous wild life.)

Loved one's dying, seriously ill and health care Lump them together. I don't see how any system of insurance based health care can work, without serious control of the basic costs. Every person and company in the supply chain is out to make as much money as possible. Should I need to mention Mylan's Epipen.

Economic/Financial Collapse This could be out of the governments hands as so much has to do with world events. But there needs to be better control of financial institutions, locally, nationally and internationally.

Identity Theft Better Education ???

---

Interesting duplications

• Terrorist attack and Victim of terrorism
  
• Funds for future and Financial collapse
  
• Loved ones dying and loved ones ill
  

It it possible dying/ill is related to finances and Obamacare.
I think there are far less than 10 choices on that chart.

---

Interesting yes, but it is just a list in most part about perceptions.

Corrupt Officials Do you have any figures on how many corrupt officials there has been recently and how does that compare to periods in the past?

Terrorist Attacks As the US is probably less likely to an external organised terrorist attack than say European countries, I would put this down, at this moment in time, to Trump and his bleak outlook on the US and the World.

Inadequate Funds for the future Probably should be #1 in my book, especially for the younger generation. Thanks to WW2 we have the 'baby boomer' generation entering retirement, the increase in life expectancy due to better science and the present day reduction in new births. We get the problem that there are less and less young people paying for more and more old people.
The US needs those immigrants, to help pay the costs.

Victim of Terrorism This one is totally a figment of the US minds. The chances of any US citizen being a victim are very very small. You are more likely to be killed or injured by furniture falling on you in your own home.
The Netherlands, per capita, had more people killed in the aircraft shot down over Ukraine than the US suffered on 9/11.

Gun Control There does need to be more control of guns, mainly for people who shouldn't have them. (And no, that doesn't alter my position that that I think guns should be removed from all who don't need them for their jobs or because they live in rural area's with dangerous wild life.)

Loved one's dying, seriously ill and health care Lump them together. I don't see how any system of insurance based health care can work, without serious control of the basic costs. Every person and company in the supply chain is out to make as much money as possible. Should I need to mention Mylan's Epipen.

Economic/Financial Collapse This could be out of the governments hands as so much has to do with world events. But there needs to be better control of financial institutions, locally, nationally and internationally.

Identity Theft Better Education ???

These are a list of FEARS, WK.

Definition 1 of Fear in the OED.

An unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm.

It is an emotion. Emotions are not exactly Rational.


Corrupt officials:

http://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/measuring-illegal-and-legal-corruption-american-states-some-results-safra

Over last 2 decades, 20,000 Federal Convictions for public corruption... 5,000 more awaiting trial... This does not include State court convictions.

But, regardless of the various RATES down over the years, the Public does perceive a problem.

As of Sept. 2015:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/185759/widespread-government-corruption.aspx

Three in four Americans (75%) last year perceived corruption as widespread in the country's government. This figure is up from two in three in 2007 (67%) and 2009 (66%).

Terrorist Attacks:

Yes, the US is less likely to be victim of an *external* terrorist attack. But we DO have plenty of homegrown ones, as did you guys in the UK (the IRA, etc.). Some even perpetuated by Government agents.

Inadequate Funds for the future:

Nice of you and the rest of the world to send us your young people to pay the bills of the older crowd in the USA... Thanks!

Gun Control:

IngSoc doubleplus ungood. All of us in the USA NEED the guns to protect ourselves from all the criminals (street thugs, terrorists, AND Government Agents), not to mention all the rest of the world eager to tell US what to do. If you were smart, you would be arming yourselves too.

Health Care: The topic was about the ACA/Obamacare, not healthcare in general...

But I do agree with you on this part:

I don't see how any system of insurance based health care can work

It can't... And neither can any sort of Government-run system... For the SAME reason.

Economic/Financial Collapse:

This is most certainly NOT out of Government's hands. It was, after all, US Government policy that caused the 'Great Recession' (~2007+).

---

https://youtu.be/iY57ErBkFFE

#Texit

Don't blame me, I voted for Johnson(L) in 2016.

Truth is dangerous... especially when it challenges those in power.

To my mind there are interconnected and closely related fears that CAN BE summed up in one fear that is more and more evident every passing year:
#1 Fear > The over reaching destructiveness of Big Government and the acumulative detrimental effect it is having on ALL my rights and the country I have loved.

I am very sad to be handing my current grandchildren such an unworkable, socialist nanny state.
Politicaly power hungry partisan Authoritarians on both the Right and Left have stopped compromising for the better good.
The tremendous unpayable debt caused by out-of-control military spending and foriegn meddling (starting with LBJ),
coupled with the thoughtless consequences of mandated social agendas (starting with LBJ) have all but destroyed my grandchildren's future.

Thanks just the same. That is my fear and my fear has become real.

Interesting yes, but it is just a list in most part about perceptions.

Corrupt Officials Do you have any figures on how many corrupt officials there has been recently and how does that compare to periods in the past?

Terrorist Attacks As the US is probably less likely to an external organised terrorist attack than say European countries, I would put this down, at this moment in time, to Trump and his bleak outlook on the US and the World.

Inadequate Funds for the future Probably should be #1 in my book, especially for the younger generation. Thanks to WW2 we have the 'baby boomer' generation entering retirement, the increase in life expectancy due to better science and the present day reduction in new births. We get the problem that there are less and less young people paying for more and more old people.
The US needs those immigrants, to help pay the costs.

Victim of Terrorism This one is totally a figment of the US minds. The chances of any US citizen being a victim are very very small. You are more likely to be killed or injured by furniture falling on you in your own home.
The Netherlands, per capita, had more people killed in the aircraft shot down over Ukraine than the US suffered on 9/11.

Gun Control There does need to be more control of guns, mainly for people who shouldn't have them. (And no, that doesn't alter my position that that I think guns should be removed from all who don't need them for their jobs or because they live in rural area's with dangerous wild life.)

Loved one's dying, seriously ill and health care Lump them together. I don't see how any system of insurance based health care can work, without serious control of the basic costs. Every person and company in the supply chain is out to make as much money as possible. Should I need to mention Mylan's Epipen.

Economic/Financial Collapse This could be out of the governments hands as so much has to do with world events. But there needs to be better control of financial institutions, locally, nationally and internationally.

Identity Theft Better Education ???

These are a list of FEARS, WK.

Definition 1 of Fear in the OED.

An unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm.

It is an emotion. Emotions are not exactly Rational.


Corrupt officials:

http://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/measuring-illegal-and-legal-corruption-american-states-some-results-safra

Over last 2 decades, 20,000 Federal Convictions for public corruption... 5,000 more awaiting trial... This does not include State court convictions.

But, regardless of the various RATES down over the years, the Public does perceive a problem.

As of Sept. 2015:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/185759/widespread-government-corruption.aspx

Three in four Americans (75%) last year perceived corruption as widespread in the country's government. This figure is up from two in three in 2007 (67%) and 2009 (66%).

Terrorist Attacks:

Yes, the US is less likely to be victim of an *external* terrorist attack. But we DO have plenty of homegrown ones, as did you guys in the UK (the IRA, etc.). Some even perpetuated by Government agents.

Inadequate Funds for the future:

Nice of you and the rest of the world to send us your young people to pay the bills of the older crowd in the USA... Thanks!

Gun Control:

IngSoc doubleplus ungood. All of us in the USA NEED the guns to protect ourselves from all the criminals (street thugs, terrorists, AND Government Agents), not to mention all the rest of the world eager to tell US what to do. If you were smart, you would be arming yourselves too.

Health Care: The topic was about the ACA/Obamacare, not healthcare in general...

But I do agree with you on this part:

I don't see how any system of insurance based health care can work

It can't... And neither can any sort of Government-run system... For the SAME reason.

Economic/Financial Collapse:

This is most certainly NOT out of Government's hands. It was, after all, US Government policy that caused the 'Great Recession' (~2007+).

While you're correct in stating fear is an emotion, you appear to miss that it's one that stems from a threat of some sort. While the threats can be real or imaginary, given the same study's results on belief in conspiracy theories, it seems that many (most?) of the threats perceived by the participants may well be imaginary (74% of participants believe on 1 or more conspiracy theories, and a third believe in one that was made up).

BTW, the same study also found that more than 1 in 3 of it's participants distrusted atheists.

---

I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ...

Yep, reform your corrupt 2 party political system 1st, then fix that way outdated constitution to reflect the modern world 2nd, look for a better national anthem 3rd and then you people over there may get rid of your silly phobias. ;-)

Cheers.

I don't think it's only the American people that has those fears.

I've said this before on one of my threads: -

"Once perception has reached a specific point, minds are made up & votes cast accordingly".

Perception - The way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted.

So, are we:

A: understanding & interpreting correctly?

B: Being played?

I think B.

A lot of the "questions" can be grouped into a smaller set of groups, say "health issues", or "financial issues". One could reasonably expect to see members of these groups having very similar scores, and on a cursory examination of the scores this can be seen.
What is interesting is the "log jam" of fears in the 30-40% region, it is not uncommon for pollsters to report a 5% "error band" on large sample data, or 10% on small sample data. One has to ask the question "Are these scores the result of filtering for 'reported fears' or for 'fraction of the population reporting this fear'?" These are different ways of interpreting the same data, and can give very different aggregate scores.

Another thing is - How do these figure compare with other countries?

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Yep, reform your corrupt 2 party political system 1st, then fix that way outdated constitution to reflect the modern world 2nd, look for a better national anthem 3rd and then you people over there may get rid of your silly phobias. ;-)

Cheers.

Thanks for your important contribution. Always helpful to hear from the concerned far left non-citizen Authoritarians.

Interesting yes, but it is just a list in most part about perceptions.

Corrupt Officials Do you have any figures on how many corrupt officials there has been recently and how does that compare to periods in the past?

Terrorist Attacks As the US is probably less likely to an external organised terrorist attack than say European countries, I would put this down, at this moment in time, to Trump and his bleak outlook on the US and the World.

Inadequate Funds for the future Probably should be #1 in my book, especially for the younger generation. Thanks to WW2 we have the 'baby boomer' generation entering retirement, the increase in life expectancy due to better science and the present day reduction in new births. We get the problem that there are less and less young people paying for more and more old people.
The US needs those immigrants, to help pay the costs.

Victim of Terrorism This one is totally a figment of the US minds. The chances of any US citizen being a victim are very very small. You are more likely to be killed or injured by furniture falling on you in your own home.
The Netherlands, per capita, had more people killed in the aircraft shot down over Ukraine than the US suffered on 9/11.

Gun Control There does need to be more control of guns, mainly for people who shouldn't have them. (And no, that doesn't alter my position that that I think guns should be removed from all who don't need them for their jobs or because they live in rural area's with dangerous wild life.)

Loved one's dying, seriously ill and health care Lump them together. I don't see how any system of insurance based health care can work, without serious control of the basic costs. Every person and company in the supply chain is out to make as much money as possible. Should I need to mention Mylan's Epipen.

Economic/Financial Collapse This could be out of the governments hands as so much has to do with world events. But there needs to be better control of financial institutions, locally, nationally and internationally.

Identity Theft Better Education ???

These are a list of FEARS, WK.

Definition 1 of Fear in the OED.

An unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm.

It is an emotion. Emotions are not exactly Rational.


Corrupt officials:

http://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/measuring-illegal-and-legal-corruption-american-states-some-results-safra

Over last 2 decades, 20,000 Federal Convictions for public corruption... 5,000 more awaiting trial... This does not include State court convictions.

But, regardless of the various RATES down over the years, the Public does perceive a problem.

As of Sept. 2015:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/185759/widespread-government-corruption.aspx

Three in four Americans (75%) last year perceived corruption as widespread in the country's government. This figure is up from two in three in 2007 (67%) and 2009 (66%).

Terrorist Attacks:

Yes, the US is less likely to be victim of an *external* terrorist attack. But we DO have plenty of homegrown ones, as did you guys in the UK (the IRA, etc.). Some even perpetuated by Government agents.

Inadequate Funds for the future:

Nice of you and the rest of the world to send us your young people to pay the bills of the older crowd in the USA... Thanks!

Gun Control:

IngSoc doubleplus ungood. All of us in the USA NEED the guns to protect ourselves from all the criminals (street thugs, terrorists, AND Government Agents), not to mention all the rest of the world eager to tell US what to do. If you were smart, you would be arming yourselves too.

Health Care: The topic was about the ACA/Obamacare, not healthcare in general...

But I do agree with you on this part:

I don't see how any system of insurance based health care can work

It can't... And neither can any sort of Government-run system... For the SAME reason.

Economic/Financial Collapse:

This is most certainly NOT out of Government's hands. It was, after all, US Government policy that caused the 'Great Recession' (~2007+).

While you're correct in stating fear is an emotion, you appear to miss that it's one that stems from a threat of some sort. While the threats can be real or imaginary, given the same study's results on belief in conspiracy theories, it seems that many (most?) of the threats perceived by the participants may well be imaginary (74% of participants believe on 1 or more conspiracy theories, and a third believe in one that was made up).

BTW, the same study also found that more than 1 in 3 of it's participants distrusted atheists.

Bobby,

You miss my point. A 'threat' that causes a 'fear' might be real... or it might not be. I was not debating WK on his use of the term 'perceptions', but on some of his explanations of some of the subjects.

I said that fear is NOT rational. A fear based on a perceived threat is just as valid a fear as one based on an 'actual' threat.

You then mention 'conspiracy theories'. ROFL.

The way that study phrases the questions about conspiracy theories is a bit... suspect.

'The US Government is concealing information about *****'.

Show me a Government that is 100% transparent and open about EVERYTHING, and I will show you to be hopelessly naive.

Of course Governments conceal information about things, it is one of the main ways they maintain power.

It should therefore come as no surprise that 3 of the top 10 fears in the USA involve Government.

Corruption in Government, Gun Control, and 'Obamacare'.

All three are either the Government abusing its power, or otherwise acting criminally.

Remember there ARE about 1000 Federal Convictions for Corruption a Year (with an unknown number of State and Local Convictions) here in the USA. That is about 3 a DAY. And that is JUST the ones that get prosecuted and convicted. Many cases do not get prosecuted, the corruption runs too deep.

We have REASON to be heavily concerned about Government Corruption here in the USA. Those in other nations might, for some odd reason or another, trust their Government. We DON'T trust ours, WITH REASON.

Remember, if a conspiracy theory has a factual basis, it ceases to be a conspiracy theory and becomes a conspiracy. Several on that list are NOT conspiracy theories, by the wording they used.

As to your mention of religion...

Of course, I tend to distrust members of various religious groups that try to push their faith system off onto me. Those that proselytize, I can tell to go away and leave me alone... But the atheists, they want to make it more difficult for me (and everyone else) to hold non-atheistic religious beliefs.

So, yes... I have trust issues with highly out-spoken, activist atheists. So what?

---

https://youtu.be/iY57ErBkFFE

#Texit

Don't blame me, I voted for Johnson(L) in 2016.

Truth is dangerous... especially when it challenges those in power.

That is about 3 a DAY.

And what should the rate be. Remember that includes the far too common ordinary use the government credit card to buy ... report high to work ...

The the Feds employ 1% of the population, given the US crime rate, 3 a day may be a much lower percent than what you should expect! Remember drug busts run faster than one a minute!

---

That is about 3 a DAY.

And what should the rate be. Remember that includes the far too common ordinary use the government credit card to buy ... report high to work ...

The the Feds employ 1% of the population, given the US crime rate, 3 a day may be a much lower percent than what you should expect! Remember drug busts run faster than one a minute!

As I have said, the actual per-capita rate does not matter. About 3 Federal convictions a day is enough to create, in the minds of the Public, the perception of widespread Government corruption.

And fears based on perceived threats are JUST AS VALID as those based on actual threats.

---

https://youtu.be/iY57ErBkFFE

#Texit

Don't blame me, I voted for Johnson(L) in 2016.

Truth is dangerous... especially when it challenges those in power.

From this study/poll, here are the people I FEAR the most.
The "personal fears" these people have require me to fear them.

Clowns Personal Fears 7.8
Zombies Personal Fears 10.2
Needles Personal Fears 16.7
Reptiles Personal Fears 33.2
Ghosts Personal Fears 8.9
Blood Personal Fears 11.7
Insects/arachnids Personal Fears 25

Q. Do people who fear zombies and ghosts vote?

That is about 3 a DAY.

And what should the rate be. Remember that includes the far too common ordinary use the government credit card to buy ... report high to work ...

The the Feds employ 1% of the population, given the US crime rate, 3 a day may be a much lower percent than what you should expect! Remember drug busts run faster than one a minute!

As I have said, the actual per-capita rate does not matter. About 3 Federal convictions a day is enough to create, in the minds of the Public, the perception of widespread Government corruption.

Unfortunately, the smaller the government the worse it will be.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Bell_scandal

In the end, seven Bell city officials, including the former mayor Oscar Hernandez, four city council members, former city administrator Robert Rizzo and assistant city administrator Angela Spaccia were convicted on graft and corruption charges and given sentences ranging from probation to twelve years in prison.

---

That is about 3 a DAY.

And what should the rate be. Remember that includes the far too common ordinary use the government credit card to buy ... report high to work ...

The the Feds employ 1% of the population, given the US crime rate, 3 a day may be a much lower percent than what you should expect! Remember drug busts run faster than one a minute!

As I have said, the actual per-capita rate does not matter. About 3 Federal convictions a day is enough to create, in the minds of the Public, the perception of widespread Government corruption.

And fears based on perceived threats are JUST AS VALID as those based on actual threats.

I think you mean imagined threats, as to become a fear, a threat must be perceived.

The label "valid" appears to serve no purpose if one suggests, as you appear to, all fears are valid.

You also appear to be making leaps that are not supported by the survey with respect to corruption. As far as I can tell, all that can be said is that a majority of the public have a fear of corruption; whether the public is aware of the conviction rate is unknown (nor is it known whether the fear would increase or decrease were this information provided to participants prior to being surveyed), whether this majority believe corruption is widespread is also unknown.

---

I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ...

That is about 3 a DAY.

And what should the rate be. Remember that includes the far too common ordinary use the government credit card to buy ... report high to work ...

The the Feds employ 1% of the population, given the US crime rate, 3 a day may be a much lower percent than what you should expect! Remember drug busts run faster than one a minute!

As I have said, the actual per-capita rate does not matter. About 3 Federal convictions a day is enough to create, in the minds of the Public, the perception of widespread Government corruption.

And fears based on perceived threats are JUST AS VALID as those based on actual threats.

I think you mean imagined threats, as to become a fear, a threat must be perceived.

The label "valid" appears to serve no purpose if one suggests, as you appear to, all fears are valid.

You also appear to be making leaps that are not supported by the survey with respect to corruption. As far as I can tell, all that can be said is that a majority of the public have a fear of corruption; whether the public is aware of the conviction rate is unknown (nor is it known whether the fear would increase or decrease were this information provided to participants prior to being surveyed), whether this majority believe corruption is widespread is also unknown.

Oy....

First, ALL fears are valid to those that have them. My use of the term 'valid' was in an attempt to argue against those that say that fears based on 'imaginary' threats are somehow less valid.

I have linked three studies/polls so far in the thread:

1. https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2016/10/11/americas-top-fears-2016/

Fear 	Fear Domain 	% Afraid or Very Afraid
Corrupt government officials 	Government 	60.6

2. http://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/measuring-illegal-and-legal-corruption-american-states-some-results-safra

According to the Justice Department, in the last two decades more than 20,000 public officials and private individuals were convicted for crimes related to corruption and more than 5,000 are awaiting trial

or

3. http://www.gallup.com/poll/185759/widespread-government-corruption.aspx

Three in four Americans (75%) last year perceived corruption as widespread in the country's government. This figure is up from two in three in 2007 (67%) and 2009 (66%).

To which one are you referring?

As I have said, the exact rate of conviction is not material to the discussion. That there are news reports of enough cases being investigated, which when combined with news reports of convictions, are enough to convince many/most reasonable people that there is a problem IS material. They are, after all, being bombarded by these news reports (from somewhere or another in the nation) on almost a daily basis, depending on their source of news... (Newspapers, cable news channels, and online, quite a lot... Traditional newscasts on the old big-3 networks (ABC, CBS, NBC)... not so much).

---

https://youtu.be/iY57ErBkFFE

#Texit

Don't blame me, I voted for Johnson(L) in 2016.

Truth is dangerous... especially when it challenges those in power.

First, ALL fears are valid to those that have them.

Does that apply to all feelings, or just fear? Feelings that women have when men grope them as you also seem to be positing about in another thread.

---

That is about 3 a DAY.

And what should the rate be. Remember that includes the far too common ordinary use the government credit card to buy ... report high to work ...

The the Feds employ 1% of the population, given the US crime rate, 3 a day may be a much lower percent than what you should expect! Remember drug busts run faster than one a minute!

As I have said, the actual per-capita rate does not matter. About 3 Federal convictions a day is enough to create, in the minds of the Public, the perception of widespread Government corruption.

And fears based on perceived threats are JUST AS VALID as those based on actual threats.

I think you mean imagined threats, as to become a fear, a threat must be perceived.

The label "valid" appears to serve no purpose if one suggests, as you appear to, all fears are valid.

You also appear to be making leaps that are not supported by the survey with respect to corruption. As far as I can tell, all that can be said is that a majority of the public have a fear of corruption; whether the public is aware of the conviction rate is unknown (nor is it known whether the fear would increase or decrease were this information provided to participants prior to being surveyed), whether this majority believe corruption is widespread is also unknown.

Oy....

First, ALL fears are valid to those that have them. My use of the term 'valid' was in an attempt to argue against those that say that fears based on 'imaginary' threats are somehow less valid.

Thanks for restating your position that the term "valid" does not add anything meaningful to the term "fear". I did not say that an imagined threat was somehow less valid, though, it is conceivable that the approach to address such threats may be different than those taken to address actual threats.

I have linked three studies/polls so far in the thread:

1. https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2016/10/11/americas-top-fears-2016/

Fear 	Fear Domain 	% Afraid or Very Afraid
Corrupt government officials 	Government 	60.6

2. http://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/measuring-illegal-and-legal-corruption-american-states-some-results-safra

According to the Justice Department, in the last two decades more than 20,000 public officials and private individuals were convicted for crimes related to corruption and more than 5,000 are awaiting trial

or

3. http://www.gallup.com/poll/185759/widespread-government-corruption.aspx

Three in four Americans (75%) last year perceived corruption as widespread in the country's government. This figure is up from two in three in 2007 (67%) and 2009 (66%).

To which one are you referring?

I was responding to the 60.6% in the latest survey. Apologies, I missed that the gallup survey included the term "widespread".

As I have said, the exact rate of conviction is not material to the discussion. That there are news reports of enough cases being investigated, which when combined with news reports of convictions, are enough to convince many/most reasonable people that there is a problem IS material. They are, after all, being bombarded by these news reports (from somewhere or another in the nation) on almost a daily basis, depending on their source of news... (Newspapers, cable news channels, and online, quite a lot... Traditional newscasts on the old big-3 networks (ABC, CBS, NBC)... not so much).

What systematic collection of data supports what you say about the exact rate of convictions?

---

I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ...