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While the Internet has been profoundly changing how people participate in politics and is reshaping their political expressions in authoritarian countries, its exact effects remain ambiguous. This paper studies how Internet access and use influence public trust in local officials in authoritarian China. By using two-period panel survey data and combining difference-in-difference with propensity score matching, we find that, compared to Internet non-users, the Internet new-users show significantly lower political trust in local government officials. Further empirical evidence indicates that its causal mechanism primarily lies in the macro-structure of urban-rural heterogeneity and the micro-process of people's changing cognition and raised expectations. Our results substantially strengthen the argument that the diffusing power of the Internet is weakening the political legitimacy of authoritarian regimes like China., Author(s): Yu You [sup.1] , Sha Yu [sup.2] , Shukang Xiao [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.12955.3a, 0000 0001 2264 7233, School of Public Affairs, Xiamen University, , 361005, Xiamen, Fujian, [...]

An overview is presented on public opinion of democracy in Latin America. While citizen support for democratic government has been stable, it is still higher than citizen satisfaction with how democratic government performs, indicating low institutional and interpersonal trust.

To explain negative perceptions of government ethics, and particularly of the ethics of public administrators, the authors use the paradox of distance and the absence of role differentiation. In the paradox of distance, the public holds negative views of government generally and public administrators in the abstract, but they have favorable to very favorable views of governmental programs with which they interact and favorable views of the bureaucrats whom they encounter. Much of the negative perception of government ethics and the ethics of public officials is based on public observations of the misdeeds of those who are elected or politically appointed. These negative perceptions are well founded. Unfortunately, the public holds similarly negative views of merit civil servants, although these public officials are much less often associated with corruption or unethical behavior. Finally, the authors suggest that several contemporary governmental reforms will, in the long run, result in more rather than less government corruption.

The factors that determine what information and when information on public officials should be published were studied in a survey conducted by the Southern Opinion Research based in Tuscaloosa, AL. Results showed that the respondents value the concept of private information. Majority of the respondents tend to report official information while only a minority report private information. Age is a significant variable related to the reporting of private information. Older citizens are more likely to report private information than younger ones.

Conducted 3/22-25 by Research 2000; surveyed 1,200 RVs; margin of error +/- 2.8% (release, 3/26). Party ID Breakdown: 32%D, 25%R, 43%I. Fav/Unfav - Adults Adults - Now 3/18 3/11 3/4 [...]

A Daily Kos poll; conducted 3/22-24 by Research 2000; surveyed 600 LVs; margin of error +/- 4.0% (release, 3/25). Party ID breakdown: 35%D, 26%R, 39%I. Fav/Unfav - All Dem GOP [...]

A survey of 44 Dems and 34 GOPers on National Journal's Cong. Insiders panel (3/13 issue). Would The Obama Admin. Be Better Off If ___ Had More/Less Influence? - Dems [...]

Conducted 2/1-3; surveyed 910 RVs; margin of error +/- 3.2% (release, 2/8). Tested: Pres. Obama, NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I) and ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R). WH '12 General Election [...]

A Public Policy Polling (D) (IVR) poll; conducted 10/31-11/1; surveyed 1,133 LVs; margin of error +/- 2.9% (release, 11/10). Party ID breakdown: 38%D, 33%R, 29%I. Snowe As Sen. All Dem [...]

An SIU-Carbondale Paul Simon Public Policy Institute poll; conducted 9/8-10/9; surveyed 800 RVs; margin of error +/- 3.5% (release, 10/16). Giannoulias As Treas. pprove 38% Disapprove 16 (For more from [...]

W. MAKES THE GRADE Seventy-five percent of Americans say President Bush has 'done about right' in his military preparations after the September 11 terrorist attacks, according to a Gallup poll [...]

United Kingdom Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) chief inspector Christine Gilbert has been criticized for poor performance. The agency has a difficult job inspecting schools and colleges. Its responsibility for social care is a recently added task.

The United Kingdom Committee on Standards in Public Life is set to inquire into accountability in local government. The committee will examine how officials' accountability and the decision-making process. The move is in response to the reported decline in public professionals' trust in politicians.