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March 16, 2010

Poll: Public divided on the trend of government secrecy

By CREW Staff

This is Sunshine Week, a time when activists, journalists and organizations such as CREW make a special effort to remind Americans why the principles of transparency in government are so important to our democracy. A recent poll of Americans by the Scripps Survey Research Center revealed their views on secrecy in government. Here are some highlights:

* When asked if there is "more secrecy, less secrecy or about the same amount of secrecy in the Obama administration as in the previous administration," 38 percent said the amount of secrecy is about the same, 34 percent said the government has become less secret under Obama and 22 percent said it has become even more secretive. * Only 32 percent were familiar with President Obama's order instructing all federal agencies to adopt a "presumption in favor of disclosure" when handling requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act. * The public believes that state and local governments are more "open and transparent” in their operations than the federal government. Forty-eight percent of those surveyed said their state governments were very or somewhat secretive. And only 36 percent rated their local governments as very or somewhat secretive.