The findings of the AmericasBarometer poll carried out by Gallup Dominicana and the Instituto Tecnologico Santo Domingo (INTEC) university with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from January to February 2012 shows that the National Police and the political parties inspire the least trust among Dominicans. The poll is part of the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP), coordinated by Vanderbilt University in the United States and the survey studied “The Political Culture of Democracy in the Dominican Republic 2012”. LAPOP is funded by USAID and produces results for 26 Latin American countries.
The media lead in credibility with 72%, followed by the Catholic Church, Protestant churches, Armed Forces, Central Electoral Board (JCE), elections, President of the Republic, Supreme Court of Justice, justice system. The Police is ranked with 34% and the political parties in the last place of democratic institutions with 32%.
LAPOP functions as a consortium of academic and non-governmental institutions and individuals across the Americas. LAPOP’s principal survey project is the bi-annual regional survey of the Americas called the AmericasBarometer.
LAPOP surveys measure citizen views on system support, political tolerance, citizen participation, local government, corruption, and authoritarianism, and many other topics related to democratic politics and opinion. Surveys are available online for the 26 countries in the Americas: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.
http://lapop.ccp.ucr.ac.cr/Lapop_English.html