The media, clergy top the confidence list: Survey

Santo Domingo.- The media and the Catholic and Protestant churches are the institutions Dominicans most respect, while the military and the Central Electoral Board are the government agencies that take that honor, according to the study of "Political Culture of Democracy in Dominican Republic and the Americas, 2012: Towards equal opportunities."

A Gallup survey sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Santo Domingo Technology Institute (INTEC) placed political parties and the National Police at the lower end of the scale.

The media’s confidence level was 72%, followed by the Catholic Church’s 67%, Protestant churches 52.1%, Armed Forces 58.2%, Central Electoral Board 52.5%, election process 50%, Presidency 47.7%, Supreme Court 47.4%, Congress 44.6%, judicial system 42.7%, National Police 34.9% and political parties 32.3%.

Analysis

Reading from the research and the Americas Barometer survey, political scientist Rosario Espinal said the report is an assessment and understanding of politics conducted every two years since 2006, in 26 countries, with 41 000 interviews throughout the region, with 1,512 people taking part in the poll.

Corruption

Among other findings the report placed Dominican Republic among the countries with the highest corruption perception at 78.1%, and eighth on corruption victimization, at 21.7%, or the percentage of people who’ve been victims of corruption.

"Perception of insecurity in the country is placed in the region’s average, it hasn’t dropped significantly, but hasn’t increased either. It fell slightly from 2010 to 2012," Espinal told the Corripio media group, noting that confidence in the National Police has declined.