I've found that when it comes to people versus group, the public (and heh, that'll be funny in a while) is very odd.
Most people polled trust police officers but they don't in general trust their police department. Most folks trust individual politicians, but not the government.
It's much like on my job. I've found that individual people are intelligent, helpful, and pleasant. The public on the other hand is dull-witted, moronic, and hell-bent on making my dealing with them as difficult as possible.
I wonder how the pollsters might deal with that kind of group-think (or individual-think)?
