Sunshine Laws and Open Government, N.C. Poll

     Elon University in North Carolina, has done a new poll in the state about open government and sunshine laws that had no surprises with the results except for one.

   The Sunshine Center of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition will present the poll results to the public on March 15 during the Sunshine Day activities which is at the Elon's School of Communications.

   There is no link to the poll data as of yet so I am using the data from a news release.

1) 86%  felt that democracy works best when government operates openly

2)   9%  felt that closed government operates best

3)   5%  didn't know

    I have a hard time believing that 9% could think that a closed ( secretive ) government works best especially after the past six years on the national level with the Bush administration acting more like a communist government than as a  Democratic, American government.

   I'd bet that those nine percent are also die hard FoxNews viewers also.

News & Record

Thursday, March 8, 2007   by John Robinson

When asked the importance of citizens having access to public documents, records, information, and meetings, 57 percent felt it was very important and 35 percent felt it was somewhat important.

Seventy-two percent of those surveyed believe citizen access to public documents, records, information, and meetings does influence government operations, while 19 percent said it does not. Eighty percent said open records and meetings keep government operations honest.

Eighty-six percent of individuals polled felt that democracy works best when government operates openly.

Fifteen percent of those polled said their state and local government was always available and accessible to them, while 7 percent felt that the federal government was always available and accessible.

Fifty-three percent of those polled agree or strongly agree that government needs to be able to keep records and meeting secret if necessary; 40 percent disagree or strongly disagree. Seventy-nine percent agree or strongly agree that some public records and meetings should be kept secret if it helps the war on terrorism, while 17 percent disagree or strongly disagree.

Forty-four percent of citizens said they have a lot of interest in the activities of state and local governments, while 43 percent said they have some interest. Twelve percent said they have little or no interest in the activities of state and local governments.

 

IceRocket tags: sunshine laws, NC poll, Elon University, democracy