Transparency in Government: The Citizens' View

Nearly two years after a memorandum to federal agencies and departments calling for ambitious and sweeping open government initiatives, many are wondering if the goals of openness, democratic participation, and collaboration have taken root and, if so, how successful the efforts have been. ForeSee Results, in partnership with Nextgov, designed a comprehensive survey to assess how citizens grade four government entities (the government overall, the White House, Congress, and federal agencies and departments) in terms of Open Government Initiative (OGI) principles like transparency and trust.

Key findings that shared in the webinar:

• All measured entities received low scores when it comes to transparency, citizen satisfaction, and trust.
• The White House is leading the way as the most transparent of the four measured entities; Congress has the lowest scores in every measured category.
• There is a clear and proven relationship between transparency, satisfaction, and trust.
• Demographics matter: Democrats tend to give government higher transparency ratings while Republicans tend to give government lower ratings.
• E-Government provides a critical path forward and provides an excellent opportunity to increase transparency.

Please click here to listen to a recording of this webinar