Toplines - Ethics - February 3-4, 2009

National Survey of 1,000 Likely Voters
Conducted February 3-4, 2009
By Rasmussen Reports

1* Are President Obama’s political appointees more ethical, less ethical or about as ethical as officials in other presidential administrations?

26% More ethical
25% Less ethical
38% About as ethical
10% Not sure

2* A number of prominent political figures have recently acknowledged that they failed to pay all the taxes they owed. Is there a double standard that has one set of rule for well-connected people and another set of rules for other taxpayers?

72% Yes
17% No
11% Not sure

3* Do Most Members of Congress pay all the taxes they owe?

15% Yes
55% No
31% Not sure

4* Does the media hold Obama’s nominees to a higher standard or a lower standard than those chosen by President Bush, or is the standard about the same?

37% Higher standard
26% Lower standard
30% About the same
6% Not sure

NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.