Confidence Game

Survey results from a Business Week poll measuring confidence in various institutions.

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A most intriguing table appeared in the March 13 edition of Business Week. It was based on a Business Week/Harris Poll survey in which respondents were asked (among other questions), "As far as people in charge of running each of the following are concerned, would you say that you have a great deal of confidence, only some confidence, or hardly any confidence at all in them?" The results:

A great deal Only Hardly

of con- some con- any con- Not

fidence fidence fidence sure

Small businesses 42% 47% 10% 1%

Religious institutions 24 50 23 3

Big businesses 19 51 28 2

The news media 15 49 36 1

Republicans in Congress 13 51 34 2

Hollywood and the entertainment industry 13 39 44 4

Democrats in Congress 11 51 36 2

State and local government 9 60 29 2

Labor unions 8 47 41 4

The federal government 8 53 39 0

All of which makes us feel pretty good about small business -- and deeply worried about everyone else.