Survey: SHOH21

Question:
The federal govenrment and most state governments have laws concerning public access to government information and the public's right to attend meetings, These are often referred to as 'freedom of information" or "right to know" or "sunshine" laws. Do you genrally feel these laws give you and other Americans too much, too little or just about the right amount of access to government records and information?

Answers: ( respondents)
Too much access 7%
Too little access 30%
Right amount of access 46%
Other 2%
Don't know 14%
Can't answer/Not ascertained/Refusal 1%

Related questions:

• Give me your best guess on this question. Do you personally belong to any group or organization that employs lobbyists? (appeared in SHOH43, January 27, 2010)
• There are thousans of people in Washington who are paid to talk to members of Congress about pending legislation on behalf of individuals, corporations and many other groups. These peole are called lobbyists. Doyou think lobbyists have a tremendousamount of influence, some influence, only a little influence or hardly any influence on pending legislation? (appeared in SHOH43, January 27, 2010)
• Overall, do you think there is more secrecy, less secrecy or about the same amount of secrecy in the Obama administration as in the previous administration? (appeared in SHOH43, January 27, 2010)
• Do you think Obama's order has made federal agencies more open when people ask for information or not? (appeared in SHOH43, January 27, 2010)
• During his first year in office, President Obama ordered all federal agencies to adopt what he called a "presumption in favor of disclosure" when handling requests under the Freedom of Information Act. Are you familiar with that order? (appeared in SHOH43, January 27, 2010)
• Do you think the country is headed on the right track orthe wrong track? (appeared in SHOH43, January 27, 2010)
• Does it seem to you that people, in general, have become less civil and less polite when they talk about the federal government, have they become more civil and polite or has there been no change in how civil and polite people are when they talk about the federal government? (appeared in SHOH42, September 26, 2009)
• Are you personally more angry at the federal government than you used to be? (appeared in SHOH42, September 26, 2009)
• Does it seem to you that people you know are more angry with the federal government these days than they used to be? (appeared in SHOH42, September 26, 2009)
• Here are a few questions about your feelings about the federal govenrnment based in Washington. Generally, do you think the work the goverment is doing is making your own life better, making it worse or having no effect upon you? (appeared in SHOH42, September 26, 2009)
• I'd like to ask some questions about whether you feel government in America is open and transparent or whether you think government is closed and secretive. When talking about the local government in your community, do you think local government is very open,somewhat open, somewhat secretive or very secretive? (appeared in SHOH41, March 09, 2009)
• How about state government? Is it very open, somewhat open, somewhat secretive or very secretive? (appeared in SHOH41, March 09, 2009)
• How about the federal government based in Washington, D.C.? (appeared in SHOH41, March 09, 2009)
• Have you ever heard of a federal law called the Freedom of Information Act? (appeared in SHOH41, March 09, 2009)
• This law is meant to allow the American people see what information the federal government has obtained about them or about issues they ae interested in. Have you ever requested information under the Freedom of Information Act? (appeared in SHOH41, March 09, 2009)
• As best you can tell, do you think the Freedom of Information Act is a good law or not a good law? (appeared in SHOH41, March 09, 2009)
• How often do you think the federal government obeys this law and allows people to see information they are entitled to see. Does the federal government always obeys the law, usually obeys the law, only sometimes obeys it or never obeys this law? (appeared in SHOH41, March 09, 2009)
• President Obama on his first day in office said he wants to usher in a new era of open government. He ordered all federal agencies to adopt what he calls a "presumption in favor of disclosure" when handling requests under the Freedom of Informaton Act. Do you think he is doing the right thing or not in giving this order or not? (appeared in SHOH41, March 09, 2009)
• Cross tabulation of Freedom of Information questions by Political Party Dem GOP Ind Approve performance of President Obama 90% 30 57% Local Government Very & Somewhat Open 57% 60% 62% State Government Very & Somewhat Open 45% 46% 41% Federal Government Very & Somewhat Open 30% 15% 25% Have Heard of FOI Act 62% 73% 71% Have Used FOI Act 5% 6% 8% FOI Act is good law 80% 74% 76% Government always or usually obeys FOI 28% 29% 25% Obama's urging disclosure right 87% 70% 81% (appeared in SHOH41, March 09, 2009)
• I'd like to ask some questions about whether you feel government in America is open and transparent or whether you think government is closed and secretive. Talking about local government in your community, do you think local government is very open, somewhat open, somewhat secretive or very secrecive? (appeared in SHOH38, February 25, 2008)
• How about state government? Is it very open, somewhat open, somewhat secretive or very secretive? (appeared in SHOH38, February 25, 2008)
• How about the federal government based in Washington D.C.? (appeared in SHOH38, February 25, 2008)
• How likely do you think it is that the federal government has opened mail or monitored telephone conversations of people in the U.S. without first getting permission from a federal jduge? It is very likely, somewhat likely, somewhat unlikely or very unlikely that the federal government has done these things without permission from a judge? (appeared in SHOH38, February 25, 2008)
• How likely do you think it is that the federal government has opened your mail or monitored some of your telephone conversations? (appeared in SHOH38, February 25, 2008)
• How likely is it that the government has opened mail or monitored telephone conversatons involving members of the news media? (appeared in SHOH38, February 25, 2008)
• How important to you is a candidate's position on open government when you decided whom to vote for? So when you're voting for president is a candidate's position on open government very important, somewhat important, somewhat unimportant or very unimportant? (appeared in SHOH38, February 25, 2008)
• How about when voting for a member of Congress. Is open government very important, somewhat important, somewhat unimportant or very unimportant? (appeared in SHOH38, February 25, 2008)
• How about when voting for a candidate for state office like govenror or attorney general? (appeared in SHOH38, February 25, 2008)
• Government records usually are considered public documents that people may view during normal business hours. Which of the following should be the government's policy when releasing government documents: First, that people should be required to show identificatiom and give a written reason for seeing the documents? Or second that people should be required to speak their names and why they want to see the documents? Or third that they should speak their names but not required to give a reason why they want to see the documents? Or fourth that they give a reason but not give their names; Or fifth that they should not be asked either their names or why they want to see the records? (appeared in SHOH38, February 25, 2008)
• Just as with the question about access to public records, if people are allowed to see lawmaker's list of visitors, should be people have to identify themselves and state reasons why they want to see the lists? (appeared in SHOH38, February 25, 2008)
• Some states allow people to carry handguns if they get a permit. Should state governments allow the public to see who has been given permits to carry concealed handguns? (appeared in SHOH38, February 25, 2008)
• Should local crime reports be made public? (appeared in SHOH38, February 25, 2008)
• Do you think america basically is headed in the right direction or the wrong direction? (appeared in SHOH36, May 19, 2007)
• I'd like to ask some questions about whether you feel government in America is open and transparent or whether you think it is secretive. Would you say it is very open, somewhat oopen, somewhat secretive or very secretive. (appeared in SHOH35, February 10, 2007)
• How about your state government? Is it very open, somewhat open, somewhat secretive or very secretive? (appeared in SHOH35, February 10, 2007)
• How about the national government based in Washington, D.C.? (appeared in SHOH35, February 10, 2007)
• Do you think America is bascially headed in the right directionor the wrong direction? (appeared in SHOH34, November 03, 2006)
• Do you think America basically is headed in the right direction or in the wrong directiion? (appeared in SHOH33, July 06, 2006)
• I'd like to ask you a few questions about your feelings about the federal government based in Washington, D.C. Generally, do you think the work the government is doing is making your own life better, making it worse or having no effect upon you? (appeared in SHOH33, July 06, 2006)
• Does it seem to you that the people you know personally are more angry with the federal government these days than they used to be? (appeared in SHOH33, July 06, 2006)
• Ae you, personally, more angry at the federal government than you used to be? (appeared in SHOH33, July 06, 2006)
• Do you think America basically is headed in the right direction or in the wrong direction? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• In general, how important do you believe open public access to government records and information is? Do you believe that public access is critical to the functioning of good government, or do you believe that it plays only a minor role? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• How do you get most of your information about the actions and activities of state and local government? Do you get most of your information from newspapers, from television, or from some other source? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• I want to ask how interested you are in the actions and activities of various levels of government. So when it comes to your state and local governments, would you say you are very interested, somewhat interested, somewhat uninterested or completely uninteested? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• How about the federal government (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• I'm interested in whether you consider these governments to be open and transparent or whether you consider them to be closed and secretive. So when talking about your state and local governments, do you think that they are very open, somewhat open, somewhat secretive or very secretive (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• How about the federal government? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Do you think there's too much secrecy, too little secrecy or just the right amount of secrecy in our governments? So when you think about your local and state governments, do they have too much secrecy, too little secrecy or just the right amount ot secrecy (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• How about the federal government? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Sometimes citizens seek information from official government records, such as voter registration information,realestate sales, policy incident reports, salaries of officials, driver or accident records, background information on zoning or school boundary changes or other public hearing issues. Have you ever requested any records such as the ones I mentioned or others from any government agency? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Have you requested informaton from your local government? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Wold you say that your local govenrment was very helpful in providing the information you wanted, somewhat helpful, somewhat unhelpful or very unhelpful? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Have you requested records from your state government? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Was the state government very helpful in providing information you wanted, somewhat helpful, somewhat unhelpful or very unhelpful? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Have you requested records from the federal government? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Was the federal government very helpful, somewhat helpful, somewhat unhelpful or very unhelpful? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• have you ever attended a public hearing or official government meeting? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Have you attended a local govenrment hearing or meeting? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Have you attended a state government hearing or meetinG? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Have you attended a federal government hearing or meeting? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Do these sunshine laws give you too much, too little or the right amount of access to government meetings and hearings? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Do thse laws give you too much, too little or the right amount of access to court records? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Some believe government records should be considered public records and that information should be withheld only if a govrnment agency can show that release of the inform ation would do harm. Others belive that it is the responsiblity of government to protect the information it hold and that record should be made public only if the citizen can make a sound legal case for its release. Which of those comes closer to your view? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Many state and local courts allow cameras into courtrooms during trials so that citizens can watch them on television. Do you think this is a good idea or bad idea? (appeared in SHOH32, March 02, 2006)
• Do you think America basically is headed in the right direction or the wrong direction? (appeared in SHOH31, October 21, 2005)
• Do you think America basically is headed in the right direction or the wrong direction? (appeared in SHOH30, July 19, 2005)
• In general, do you approve or disapprove of the job George W. Bush is doing as president? (appeared in SHOH30, July 19, 2005)
• Do you think America basically is headed in the right directon or the wrong directon? (appeared in SHOH29, February 10, 2005)
• Overall, do you think America historically has been correct in most of its decisions to go to war? (appeared in SHOH23, May 18, 2003)
• I'd like to ask you a few questions about your feelings about the federal government based in Washington, DC. Generally, do you think the work the government is doing is making your own life better, making it worse, or having no effect upon you? (appeared in SHOH19, January 21, 2002)
• Does it seem to you that the people you know personally are more angry with the federal government these days than they used to be? (appeared in SHOH19, January 21, 2002)
• Are you, personally, more angry at the federal government than you used to be? (appeared in SHOH19, January 21, 2002)
• Only half of the adults in America voted in last year's presidential election. Do you think this was because people feel their vote doesn't count or people are disenchanted with politics or people didn't have time to vote or for some other reason? (appeared in SHOH19, January 21, 2002)
• Would you want the federal government to control the costs of gasoline, or do you want the free market to prevail? (appeared in SHOH18, October 21, 2001)
• Would you want the federal government to control the costs of electricity, or do you want the free market to prevail? (appeared in SHOH18, October 21, 2001)