The Nation : Most in Survey Critical of TV Evangelists

A new Gallup Poll found that public opinion of television evangelists in general is at an all-time low. In 1980, when Gallup first started gauging the public’s image of television evangelists, most Americans held positive views of them as a group. Now, nearly eight in 10 (79%) say television evangelists cannot be trusted with their supporters’ donations. In 1980, less than half as many (36%) were distrustful of evangelists’ handling of funds. Large majorities now describe TV evangelists as dishonest (70%), insincere (67%), lacking a special relationship with God (67%), and uncaring (62%). The results are based on telephone interviews with 1,238 randomly selected adults conducted from Sept. 7-10. The error rate could be plus or minus 4 percentage points.