Bill Gates edges out Obama in public trust

What do they have in common? Credibility.

A new "Public Trust Monitor" survey by Public Strategies and Politico reveals that President Barack Obama has the trust of two-thirds of the American people, more than any politician on the left or right. Trust in government is also high: 63% say they trust the government to do what's right. Apparently, Rush Limbaugh is an outlier.

On the economy, there's only one person how outranks Obama on economic credibility according to Politico:

Obama also ranked as one of the most credible voices on the economy, outdistanced only by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. Four in five voters find Gates credible "as a source of information on the U.S. economy," topping the 71 percent who said the same of the President. Investor Warren Buffett ranked third, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke finished fourth.

Gates is, of course, America's richest man and most people apparently aren't going to second-guess his success.


About the Author

Knute Berger is Mossback, Crosscut's chief Northwest native. He also writes the monthly Grey Matters column for Seattle magazine and is a weekly Friday guest on Weekday on KUOW-FM (94.9). His newest book is Pugetopolis: A Mossback Takes On Growth Addicts, Weather Wimps, and the Myth of Seattle Nice, published by Sasquatch Books. In 2011, he was named Writer-in-Residence at the Space Needle and is author of Space Needle, The Spirit of Seattle (2012), the official 50th anniversary history of the tower. You can e-mail him at mossback@crosscut.com.

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