Political Confidence Edges Up

Political Confidence Edges Up

John Wolz

Fastener industry confidence in political leadership on business issues edged up at the end of 2004, compared with a year before.

Confidence in the White House edged up again to 3.3 from 3.2 in 2003 but still did not match the highest level of 3.5 in 2000.

A total of 43% gave “high” or “very high” ratings to the White House, while only 18.2% reported “low” or “very low.”

Industry confidence in the U.S. Congress also rose slightly to 2.8 from a two-year low of 2.6. The “moderate” rating dominated at 43.8%, while nearly a third of fastener companies registered “low” or “very low” confidence in Congress and only 21.1% “high” or “very high.”

Canadians” confidence in the U.S. White House is much lower than that of their southern neighbors. In contrast to U.S.-only participants rating the White House at 3.4, Canada averaged just 2.5. Nearly half (47.1%) of Canadians rated the White House as “low” or “very low.” Only 5.9% rated the White House “very high” and none “high.”

At 2.4 the Canadians” view of the U.S. Congress also was below the domestic 2.9 rating. No Canadians rated Congress high, 47.1% indicated “moderate” confidence and an identical combined 47.1% rated Congress “low” or “very low.” \ �2005 FastenerNews.com