- GENEVA (Reuters) -- People
around the globe largely mistrust their political leaders and nearly half
fear the world will be less safe for their children, according to a survey
issued on Thursday.
-
- The survey, carried out in 60 countries by the Gallup
International polling organization for the Swiss-based World Economic Forum,
also found that business leaders have a better image than the politicians
-- but not by a huge margin.
-
- Worldwide, 63 percent of the 50,000 people questioned
believe politicians are dishonest while 43 percent think the same term
applies to business leaders, according to the survey, titled "The
Voice of the People."
-
- Some 52 percent feel politicians behave unethically,
and 39 percent believe the same of business chiefs. But while 39 percent
think politicians are not capable or competent, only 22 percent viewed
their business counterparts in the same way.
-
- Least trusted by their peoples, the survey indicated,
are the political leaders of Latin America, West Asia and Africa with dishonesty
ratings of 87 percent for the first, 84 percent for the second and 82 percent
for the third.
-
- Although in Western Europe as a whole 46 percent of the
survey sample described their politicians as dishonest, in Germany 76 percent
held that view, while 70 percent of Germans thought business leaders were
dishonest too.
-
- By contrast, across the border in France, where cynicism
about political life has been long viewed from outside as rife, only 36
percent saw their politicians as dishonest and only 27 percent described
them as unethical.
-
- IRAQ WAR EFFECT
-
- In Britain, 72 percent feel that "politicians respond
to people more powerful than themselves" -- possibly reflecting disapproval
of Prime Minister Tony Blair's support for President Bush over Iraq, survey
compilers said.
-
- The figure for Western Europe as a whole was 58 percent.
-
- In North America, covering the United States and Canada,
50 percent of the sample felt political leaders are dishonest, and 47 percent
believe business leaders behave unethically. The survey as issued by the
Forum gave no other details or breakdown for the two countries.
-
- It said Ecuador returned the highest dishonesty rating,
96 percent, followed by Mexico with 93 percent, Nigeria with 92 percent,
Peru, Bolivia and India with 91 percent -- and new European Union member
Poland with 90 percent.
-
- At the other end of the scale, only three percent of
those surveyed in Singapore saw their political leaders as dishonest, 12
percent in the Netherlands and 13 percent in Malaysia.
-
- The survey found 45 percent of the sample around the
globe -- and 46 percent in the United States -- predicting a less safe
world for future generations, of whom nearly one third thought life would
be "a lot less safe" in years to come.
-
- In Western Europe, this view was expressed by 55 percent
of the sample -- up to 63 percent in Germany.
-
- But in Africa, scene of some of the worst natural disasters
and civil conflicts of the last decades, optimism was stronger with 50
percent saying the world would be safer and only 30 percent expecting less
security.
-
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