Read the full Center for Public Leadership report

The Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy of School of Government has done its third national study of public confidence in leadership and reports that 64 percent of Americans do not trust news media coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign. 88 percent strongly or somewhat strongly agreed that presidential coverage by the press focused too much on trivial issues and 61% percent believed the press was not telling them enough about candidates’ specific policy plans for the future. On issue of bias, 40 percent said presidential campaign coverage was too liberal and 21 percent said it was too conservative, leaving 30 percent who answered that there was no bias. Aside from views of the press, the Center found that the only sectors of American leadership where Americans had more than a moderate amount of confidence are in the military and the medical field. The study, which also includes detailed responses on public views of the candidates and the issues, sampled 1,207 respondents between September 4-17.