Wall Street Journal - January 7, 2005

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is considered the person most trusted to provide information about the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, according to a recent Harris Interactive survey conducted in the U.S. and in three large European countries. Mr. Annan topped the lists in France and Germany and in Britain, tied as most trustworthy with rock star and philanthropist Bob Geldof.

But in the U.S. Mr. Annan was eleventh on the list. President Bush, Jimmy Carter and Oprah Winfrey were the people trusted most by the largest numbers of Americans to provide information about the Millennium Goals.

In 2000, the United Nations adopted an ambitious set of "Millennium Development Goals," which were signed by all 191 member nations. The plan, which included a commitment to eradicate poverty and hunger, increase primary education and combat AIDS , has stalled after the 9/11 attacks and the War in Iraq, Mr. Annan said in his most recent report. Mr. Annan's strained relations with the Bush administration may have also contributed to the delay. But the poll indicates that these troubles haven't lessened world-wide trust in Mr. Annan.

Here are the results of the latest poll:

"Assuming you wanted to know more about the Millennium Goals, which one of the following people would you trust the most to provide that information? Which person would be your second choice?"

Methodology: This survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive between June 17 and July 2, 2004 in Britain, Germany and France, and between Aug. 18 and Sept. 8, 2004 in the U.S. Interviews were conducted among nationwide cross sections of adults aged 16 and over as follows: 7,373 in Britain; 3,607 in France; 6,947 in Germany, and with a nationwide cross section of 22,166 adults aged 18 and over in the U.S.

Figures for region, age, sex, education and income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in each population. European data were also weighted for Internet usage. Propensity score weighting was used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online. In theory, with probability samples of these sizes, one could say with 95% certainty that the results have a statistical precision of +/-2 percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult populations in those countries had been polled with complete accuracy.

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