American Red Cross, AARP, The Nature Conservancy and U.S. Chamber of Commerce are Among the Most Trusted Beltway Groups

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Dec. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Among U.S. adults who say they are familiar with them, the American Red Cross, AARP, The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are the most trusted among 14 large organizations measured, according to a new Harris Poll. Conversely, the National Rifle Association, the AFL-CIO and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are the least trusted. These organizations have a great deal of influence affecting many public policy discussions in and around the Nation's Capitol.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll(R) conducted online by Harris Interactive(R) among a national sample of 2,429 U.S. adults between November 13 and 20, 2006.

  The main findings of the survey include:

  * The American Red Cross is the organization with the highest level of
    familiarity (96%) of the 14 organizations measured and ties with the
    highest level of trust (84%).

  * AARP also does very well with high familiarity (88%) and ties the
    American Red Cross in being trusted (84%). Among people ages 50 and
    over, the figures are even higher for familiarity (98%) and a similar
    percent for trust (84%).

  * The U.S. Chamber of Commerce does well in terms of familiarity (78%) and
    trust (77%). Their figures have increased from 2005 when 76 percent said
    they were familiar and 70 percent trusted the organization.

  * While the National Rifle Association (NRA) is near the top in terms of
    recognition (87%), just over half of those familiar with this
    organization (54%) trust the NRA while 46 percent do not trust them.
    However, the NRA can take some comfort that this represents an
    improvement from last year when less than half (48%) trusted the NRA.

  * The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) shows a clear divide among the
    76 percent who are familiar with them. Almost half (49%) say they trust
    the ACLU compared to 51 percent who do not trust them. Of note, the ACLU
    has the highest percentage of responses for "do not trust at all" (29%).

  * The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial
    Organizations (AFL-CIO) also does not score well in this poll. Among the
    67 percent who are familiar with the organization, a slight majority
    (51%) trusts it. Nevertheless, this is a significant improvement from
    2005 when 41 percent of U.S. adults familiar with it said that they
    trusted the AFL-CIO.

  * Among environmental organizations, four in 10 (40%) adults say they are
    familiar with The Nature Conservancy, though eight in 10 (80%) who are
    familiar with it say they trust the organization. This compares to the
    Sierra Club and Greenpeace who have higher levels of familiarity (54%
    and 77% respectively), but have lower levels of trust (65% and 60%) than
    The Nature Conservancy.

  * Among the long established think-tanks, all three that were measured --
    Heritage Foundation, Brookings Institution and Cato Institute -- have
    relatively low levels of awareness (ranging from 32% to 17%) but fairly
    respectable trust levels (ranging from 73% to 58%).

Not surprisingly, there are a few partisan differences within the trust levels of these organizations. The largest difference is the 49 percentage points that separate the Republicans and Democrats over the ACLU -- while 70 percent of Democrats trust them, only 21 percent of Republicans trust the ACLU. The largest difference going the other way is over the Business Roundtable. While over eight in 10 (84%) of Republicans trust the organization, only 48 percent of Democrats feel the same way.

The organizations showing the closest in partisan trust are the American Red Cross with 85 percent of Republicans and 87 percent of Democrats saying they trust that organization. Others receiving high positive marks from both Republicans and Democrats include the Brookings Institute (77% from Republicans and 74% from Democrats) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (83% from Republicans and 75% from Democrats).

Interestingly, since 2005 there has been a modest decline in familiarity among all of the organizations except for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (which increased by two percentage points). However, at the same time among those familiar, the level of trust has been trending upward.

                                 TABLE 1
                      Familiarity with Organization
   "Please indicate your familiarity with the following organizations."
  Base: All Adults

                                              Familiar          Not Familiar
                                                  %                   %
  American Red Cross                             96                   4
  AARP                                           88                  12
  NRA (National Rifle Association                87                  13
  U.S. Chamber of Commerce                       78                  22
  Greenpeace                                     77                  23
  ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)          76                  24
  AFL-CIO                                        67                  33
  Sierra Club                                    54                  46
  The Nature Conservancy                         40                  60
  Heritage Foundation                            32                  68
  Brookings Institution                          22                  78
  Common Cause                                   18                  82
  Cato Institute                                 17                  83
  Business Roundtable                            10                  90


                                 TABLE 2
                  Familiarity with Organization - TREND
   "Please indicate your familiarity with the following organizations."
                  (Percentage who say they are familiar)
  Base: All Adults

                                                2005           2006
                                                  %              %
  American Red Cross                             NA             96
  AARP                                           89             88
  NRA (National Rifle Association                90             87
  U.S. Chamber of Commerce                       76             78
  Greenpeace                                     81             77
  ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)          80             76
  AFL-CIO                                        75             67
  Sierra Club                                    64             54
  The Nature Conservancy                         47             40
  Heritage Foundation                            33             32
  Brookings Institution                          28             22
  Common Cause                                   24             18
  Cato Institute                                 21             17
  Business Roundtable                            11             10

  Note: N/A indicates organization not asked about in that year


                                 TABLE 3
                          Trust in organization
               "How much do you trust these organizations?"
  Base: Adults Familiar with Organization (Variable Base)

                                                  Don't   Not    Not
                             Trust  Great   Fair  Trust   Very   at
                             (NET)   Deal  Amount (NET)   Much   All
  American Red Cross     %     84     43     41     16     12     4
  AARP                   %     84     33     51     16     12     4
  The Nature Conservancy %     80     26     54     20     16     4
  U.S. Chamber of
   Commerce              %     77     14     63     23     20     4
  Brookings Institute    %     73     14     58     27     23     4
  Heritage Foundation    %     68     17     51     32     22    10
  Sierra Club            %     65     19     46     35     24    11
  Common Cause           %     64     16     49     36     28     8
  Greenpeace             %     60     16     44     40     24    16
  Business Roundtable    %     60      8     53     40     31     8
  NRA                    %     54     19     36     46     27    18
  Cato Institute         %     58     11     48     42     32    10
  ACLU                   %     49     13     35     51     23    29
  AFL-CIO                %     51     10     41     49     36    13

Note Trust is the net score of the "great deal" and "fair amount" responses; Don't trust is the net score of the "not very much" and "not at all" responses.

                                 TABLE 4
                      Trust in organization - TREND
               "How much do you trust these organizations?"
            (Percentage trust "a great deal" or "fair amount")
  Base: Adults Familiar with Organization (Variable Base)

                                         2005           2006
                                           %              %
  American Red Cross                      NA             84
  AARP                                    77             84
  The Nature Conservancy                  79             80
  U.S. Chamber of Commerce                70             77
  Brookings Institute                     63             73
  Heritage Foundation                     57             68
  Sierra Club                             59             65
  Common Cause                            58             64
  Business Roundtable                     58             60
  Greenpeace                              56             60
  Cato Institute                          51             58
  NRA                                     48             54
  AFL-CIO                                 41             51
  ACLU                                    49             49

  Note: N/A indicates organization not asked about in that year


                                 TABLE 5
                      Trust in organization by party
               "How much do you trust these organizations?"
  Base: Adults Familiar with Organization (Variable Base)

                            Trust                     Party
                            (NET)
                                       Republican    Democrat    Independent
                               %            %            %            %
  American Red Cross          84           85           87           81
  AARP                        84           80           92           78
  The Nature Conservancy      80           71           86           79
  U.S. Chamber of Commerce    77           83           75           77
  Brookings Institute         73           77           74           73
  Heritage Foundation         68           84           66           63
  Sierra Club                 65           49           80           60
  Common Cause                64           42           76           71
  Greenpeace                  60           42           79           56
  Business Roundtable         60           84           48           62
  Cato Institute              58           70           44           67
  NRA                         54           71           40           54
  AFL-CIO                     51           30           71           44
  ACLU                        49           21           70           49

Note: Trust is the net score of the "great deal" and "fair amount" responses.

Methodology

The Harris Poll(R) was conducted online within the United States between November 13 and 20, 2006 among 2,429 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All surveys are subject to several sources of error. These include: sampling error (because only a sample of a population is interviewed); measurement error due to question wording and/or question order, deliberately or unintentionally inaccurate responses, non-response (including refusals), interviewer effects (when live interviewers are used) and weighting.

With one exception (sampling error) the magnitude of the errors that result cannot be estimated. There is, therefore, no way to calculate a finite "margin of error" for any survey and the use of these words should be avoided.

With pure probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability sample of 2,429 adults one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results would have a sampling error of +/- 2 percentage points. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

  J28940
  Q 601, 606

  The Harris Poll(R) #88, December 13, 2006
  By David Krane, Vice President, Public Affairs and Policy Research

  About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is the 12th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world. The company provides research-driven insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what it believes to be the world's largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its United States, Europe and Asia offices, its wholly-owned subsidiary Novatris in France and through a global network of independent market research firms. The service bureau, HISB, provides its market research industry clients with mixed-mode data collection, panel development services as well as syndicated and tracking research consultation. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at http://www.harrisinteractive.com/ .

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  Press Contact:
  Michelle Soto
  Harris Interactive
  585-214-7665

  Harris Interactive Inc. 12/06