The public continues to be deeply concerned about the influence that money and power can buy in Washington. These numbers are a useful reminder to Congress, as they debate campaign finance reforms, that the overwhelming majority of Americans want to curb the power of money in politics.
Many people seem to feel that they lose out to rich and powerful special interests.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll , a nationwide study conducted by Harris Interactive of 1,004 adults surveyed by telephone between April 26th and May 5th. The influence of polls and public opinion are viewed somewhat differently This Harris Interactive survey suggests that while many people see opinion polls as a useful counterweight to special interests, many others are concerned that the polls may not accurately reflect public opinion. Perhaps there is a suspicion that polls are manipulated by the media or by corporate America, or perhaps the problems of TV forecasting of the Florida election have hurt the polls. Few changes since last year Harris Interactive asks these questions at about this time every year. The results of this year's poll are strikingly similar to last year's survey.