US Public strongly rejects Cheney's dismissive attitude

As we all no Cheney glibly dismissed the Public's view on Iraq saying that he doesn't care what the public thinks. Public opinion polls have continuously shown the publics desire to get out of Iraq, a fact that has been supported by more than 60% of Americans for more than 2 years.   Cheney's attitude? Who cares!

When asked about Cheney's comments White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino added that we had our chance four years ago.  Hot on these revelations is a poll conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org that effectively rejects the views of Cheney and his supporters.

WorldPublicOpinion.org recently asked countries around the world how elections, polls, and special interests effect their attitudes about government.  Though the majority of this data will not be released until May, WorldPublicOpinion.org has released some early findings on Americans attitudes on this subject in response to Cheney's comments.

On public opinion polls, Americans were pretty clear:

Eighty-one percent say when making "an important decision" government leaders "should pay attention to public opinion polls because this will help them get a sense of the public’s views."  Only 18 percent said "they should not pay attention to public opinion polls because this will distract them from deciding what they think is right."

This included 70% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats.

Responding to Dana Perino's assertion that Americans had their chance three years ago:

When Americans are asked, whether they think that "elections are the only time when the views of the people should have influence, or that also between elections leaders should consider the views of the people as they make decisions"  94 percent say that government leaders should pay attention to the views of the public between elections.

Americans aren't real happy with their democracy right now either.  

Eighty-three percent of respondents say that the will of the people should have more influence that it does.

And this isn't just malcontent Democrats either.  Though 86% of Democrats say Americans should have more influence than they do, 79% of Republicans agree.

And consistent with Obama's message that special interests are poisoning the Democratic process:

Asked, "Generally speaking, would you say that this country is run by a few big interests looking out for themselves, or that it is run for the benefit of all the people?" just 19 percent say it is run for the benefit of all the people, while 80 percent say it is run by a few big interests looking out for themselves.

Not unexpectedly, themes consistent with Democrats complaints about BushCo and the Republicans overreaching on privacy and other concerns:

Asked, "How much of the time do you think you can trust the national government in Washington to do what is right?" 60 percent say "only some of the time" while 37 percent say most of the time and 3 percent just about always.

So basically, the American public has roundly rejected Cheney's dismissive attitudes.  Of course this was a poll of Americans attitudes, so it is likely he won't care.