Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 21, 1994                   TAG: 9409230063
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By ANGIE CANNON KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON NOTE: ABOVE                                 LENGTH: Medium

BITTER AMERICANS JUST DON'T SEEM TO TRUST OR GIVE A DARN

Americans are in an ugly mood and that's a dangerous fact for politicians and others dependent on the kindness of strangers.

That's the bleak conclusion of a major new poll by the Times Mirror Center assessing the national political climate.

The survey paints a picture of an America that has become increasingly bitter, frustrated, cynical and selfish over the last seven years.

And it portrays a public ever more distrustful and hopeless about its government.

``This is an electorate that is angry, self-absorbed and unanchored politically,'' said Andrew Kohut, director of the Times Mirror Center.

Among the grim details:

Americans are increasingly indifferent toward the problems of blacks and minorities and resentful toward immigrants.

Fewer Americans think government should take care of needy people.

Public disgust with Washington is significantly worse than in 1992. More voters want traditional politicians replaced with a fresh, new batch. And a third party is looking better all the time.

More than 70 percent of Americans think the media, especially television news shows, hurt the country more than they help.

The poll's analysts concluded that the Clinton administration's agenda of change and the economic recovery have failed to reverse an overwhelming political cynicism in the country.

The poll, whose error rate is 2 percent to 3 percent, found that only 33 percent of the public thinks that elected officials care about their beliefs, down from 36 percent in 1992 and 47 percent in 1987, when Times Mirror began its studies of public opinion.

Only 42 percent now believe government is run for the benefit of all people, compared to 57 percent in 1987.

This widespread estrangement has given increasing strength to an already widespread political attitude - outsiderism, the view that new leaders are better than the old ones and that political experience is more a handicap than a help. Two-thirds of Americans said Washington needs new leaders, even if they are not as experienced, compared to 44 percent in 1987.

Most Americans also feel contempt for the federal bureaucracy. Nearly 70 percent said dealing with a federal agency isn't worth the trouble, compared to 58 percent seven years ago.

Tony Desesa, 52, a Lexington, Ky., construction worker and welder, is a prime example of that frustration.

``The U.S. government will do whatever they please,'' Desesa complained. ``Years ago, it used to be, `We the people.' The Congress and the president, they don't get nothing done. There are some awful high-dollar people who get on TV and don't get nothing done. All they do is spend our money.''

Yet, Americans seem galvanized by their disenchantment. They express a greater interest and willingness to participate in politics, according to the Times Mirror survey. Sixty-six percent said they ``completely agree'' it is their duty to always vote, compared to 46 percent in 1987.

At the same time, the disaffected electorate also feels less charitable toward the less fortunate. In the poll, 57 percent of Americans said they had a responsibility to take care of people who can't take care of themselves, down from 69 percent in 1992 and 71 percent in 1987.

Forty-one percent of the public said government should help the needy even if it means going deeper into debt, the first time that such an idea has not received majority support in the Times Mirror studies. In both 1987 and 1992, 53 percent thought government had such an obligation.