By Andrea Estrada

In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama called for “a new era of responsibility.” Recently, he pointed to a “confidence gap, when it comes to the American people,” and acknowledged the need to “earn their trust.” How is Obama doing in terms of responsibility and transparency? Has he delivered on his promise to restore the trust and confidence in the American people?

Ethics specialist Jim Lichtman and Wade Clark Roof, director of the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life, will answer these questions and more as they discuss the findings of their recent Zogby interactive survey, “The First 100 Days –– Integrity, Leadership, Trust.” The event begins at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 18, at the Granada Theater. It is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the McCune Founders Room.

The poll, commissioned by the Capps Center and authored by Roof and Lichtman, was conducted from April 28-30 and included 3,367 likely voters across the country.

“This poll is unlike the others on Obama’s first 100 days,” said Roof. “Four months ago we asked Americans what qualities they were looking for in a president, and now we have asked them to evaluate the president on these very qualities –– integrity, honesty, fairness, vision of the country.”

Overall, 54 percent gave Obama a positive job performance rating in the survey. Nearly six in ten respondents gave him positive marks for his honesty and integrity, and 59 percent applauded his leadership during his first 100 days in office. Honesty, integrity, and leadership are the qualities respondents deemed most important to them in the Capps Center survey conducted after the November 2008 election.

Just over half of the respondents said they believed Obama was moving the country in the right direction, a significant improvement over those who said the same thing in polling before Obama took office. In a notably partisan split, nearly all Democrats sided with Obama, while only 11 percent of Republicans did.

While Obama scored well for his personal qualities, the Capps study confirms that Congress remains unloved by poll respondents nationwide. Rating the transparency of Congress, just 18 percent gave it positive marks. Asked about restoring trust in government, just 18 percent gave Congress a positive rating. Almost one in four — 23 percent — gave it good marks for honesty, while 22 percent gave it positive marks for integrity. It performed much better on the question of how it works with Obama — 45 percent said it has so far done a good job working with the new president.

Respondents gave Obama very high marks for his personal intelligence, and over half said they had confidence in his vision for the country. These were additional qualities voters had previously said the new president should demonstrate.

“Looking at the first 100 days of any president is something that has become more customary than reflective of serious assessment,” Lichtman said. “The real measure of Obama’s leadership won’t come for at least seven to nine months; certainly sooner, if voters can see results from his economic policies.”