Red Cross, AARP Win High Marks from Americans, Poll Finds

By Peter Panepento

The American Red Cross — despite criticism over its disaster relief management following Hurricane Katrina — is one of the organizations that Americans most trust to influence public-policy decisions, a new poll by Harris Interactive has found.

The poll found 84 percent of Americans who are familiar with the Red Cross said they trust the organization. Only the AARP, also at 84 percent, matched the American Red Cross' trust level, according to the poll.

Harris Interactive conducted the online poll among a national sample of 2,429 adults last month. It measured Americans' familiarity with and trust of 14 organizations that influence public-policy decisions.

The Nature Conservancy, at 80 percent, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, at 77 percent, were also among the most trusted organizations, according to the poll.

The poll found a much smaller percentage of Americans trusted the AFL-CIO, American Civil Liberties Union, and the National Rifle Association.

Only 49 percent of respondents said they trust the ACLU, 51 percent said they trust the AFL-CIO, and 54 percent said they trust the NRA.

The news comes as the Red Cross embarks on an effort to overhaul its board and governance structure.

A Congressional investigation into the organization following Hurricane Katrina concluded that the Red Cross had a weak board of directors and that it had developed a culture that cared more about publicity than fulfilling its mission.

The Red Cross also had the highest level of familiarity among the 14 groups included in the survey. Ninety-six percent of respondents said they were familiar with the Red Cross. It was followed by AARP, at 88 percent, and the NRA at 87 percent.

Business Roundtable, a Washington organization. had the lowest level of familiarity, at 10 percent.

Three think tanks included in the survey — Heritage Foundation, Brookings Institution, and Cato Institute — also had low levels of familiarity, ranging from 32 percent for Heritage to just 17 percent for Cato.

Among those familiar with those groups, though, the think tanks had relatively high levels of trust. Of those familiar with the groups, 73 percent said they trust the Brookings Institution, 68 perent trust the Heritage Foundation, and 58 percent trust the Cato Institute.

More information about the survey is available on Harris Interactive's Web site