The Most Trusted Beltway Groups.

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 conducted online by Harris Interactive 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.

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