What's Wrong With Washington?

I know this may come as a shock, but I believe the people polled in the survey below got it right: the US Government is more about special interests than it is about the people.

From the latest New York Times/CBS poll:

30. Would you say the government is pretty much run by a few big interests looking out for
themselves, or that it is run for the benefit of all the people?

                       Few big interests       All people    DK/NA
9/76                           57                  33          10
10/76A                         61                  31           9
10/76B                         57                  35           8
6/83 NYT                       54                  33          12
11/83 NYT                      59                  30          11
11/84B                         49                  40          11
2/85 NYT                       55                  36           9
12/85 NYT                      54                  37           9
11/88B                         57                  35           8
10/90                          71                  21           8
10/90B                         77                  18           5
3/92                           75                  19           5
8/5-9/95                       79                  15           6
5/30-6/1/97 Gallup             74                  22           4
7/6-9/00 Gallup                70                  25           5
7/11-15/04                     64                  28           7
2/5-10/10                      78                  18           5


31. How much say do you think people like yourself have about what the government does --
a good deal, some, or not much?
                A good deal     Some    Not much      DK/NA
10/90B               11          30       58            1
10/92C                9          29       60            2
10/92C*               9          32       58            1
11/94                 6          25       68            1
8/95                 12          29       58            2
11/96                12          37       50            1
9/99 CBS              9          38       52            1
2/00                 14          37       48            1
5/00                 10          25       64            2
7/13-27/03           10          33        56           1
9/15-19/06            8          29        62           1
2/5-10/10             8          21        70           1

The surprising thing, I guess, is that trust of government and people's belief in their own influence are at historic lows.