Public Approval/Trust Relating to Embryonic Stem Cell Research

In class yesterday, we discussed political trust and public approval. While the issue I am working on is relatively new (within the last decade), I have seen a few polling questions that I believe relate to my topic and what we discussed in class. For example, when Obama overturned the ban, the public was asked if they approve or disapprove of his decision. More than 1/2 approved. Also when questions ask if federal funding should be set aside for this research, I believe it shows political trust because the public is depending on the government to make the decisions about funding according to public opinion. When polls first began on this issue in 2001, those who favored federal funding was a little less than 1/2 while that increased to more than 1/2 by 2009. There has not been a large discrepency in numbers since 2001 but when this first became publicized in politics, Bush made a policy regardless of public opinion. I know that public opinion is important in politics and can change policies in government, but based on the findings of my research on polling, it appears that the public is not the ultimate decision maker. Rather, it seems that the next political candidate will use what the previous political did as the opposite of what s/he will do. However, as I said this issue is new and it will take a few more decades of polling and government policies to confirm any trends and changes regarding this issue. Also, I did find a question from 2004 during the presidential elections that asked respondents if Bush's view and Kerry's view on stem cell research would influence who they vote for and 40% said it would not.