Tough Grades on Transparency

We've got the results of an interesting survey posted on our sister site, Nextgov, today. We partnered with ForeSee Results, the Ann Arbor-based firm that collects and analyzes data for the American Customer Satisfaction Index to survey Americans on their assessment of the Obama administration's initiative to promote transparency in government.

The grades were pretty tough: The White House earned a score of 46 out of a possible 100; federal agencies got an aggregate score of 40; and Congress rated 37. But the federal organizations can comfort themselves that they outscored several sectors of the economy regulated by the government. The banking and health care sectors both received scores of 32, and the energy industry received only a 30 rating.

It's still too early to issue a final judgment on the open government initiative, of course, and the White House itself seems to rate pretty well on its own efforts at transparency. But the survey also shows something that's true of a lot of efforts to improve government operations: It's hard to convince the public that things actually are changing for the better. That's especially true at a time when federal efforts to intervene in the economic crisis haven't really paid off yet.