A just-released Rasmussen survey found 75 percent of respondents believe Americans are getting ruder and more uncivilized.

If this is true, is it being caused by a downturn in the economy that clearly has made the public uneasy for obvious reasons, or are citizens just mimicking the caustic tone they've seen from political leaders the past couple of years as well as that exhibited by prominent media members?

After all, there's been a certain Jerry Springer-like offensiveness on display in the nation's capital since George W. Bush was first inaugurated, and the press have been quite in lockstep.

Given the Bush Derangement Syndrome the country witnessed -- especially after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans four years ago -- as well as the way a supposedly impartial media viciously attacked former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin from the moment she was announced as John McCain's running mate, and how average Americans protesting at Tea Parties and town hall meetings have been disgracefully disparaged in recent months, is it any wonder Rasmussen Reports found the following:

Exactly how wide is the gulf between elite media opinion and public opinion on matters of politics?

Let’s put it this way, after Sen. Barack Obama falsely accused Sen. John McCain of saying he (Obama) doesn’t look like the other presidents on the currency and has a funny name, Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, called Obama's "Dollar Bill" statement "self-deprecating":

ANDREA MITCHELL: I have to tell you that the people who heard Barack Obama say what he said Wednesday night—and it's very similar to things he's said in Paris and Berlin and a lot of other stops—it's very self-deprecating. He says "I don't look like other people who have been President of the United States," most people who watched that, I don't know very many people who've watched that, and the people in the audience, the reporters, have never interpreted it, have never inferred from that, that he is making some kind of racial statement, but that's the way the McCain camp says that they took it, and Rick Davis by putting it out there, sure –

Although the results of a new poll may not be surprising to NewsBusters readers, it is nonetheless shocking to actually see it in print: 68 percent of Americans "believe most reporters try to help the candidate that they want to win."

Even more predictable given how obvious it's been, a majority of respondents also felt Barack Obama has gotten the best press coverage so far during the campaign.

Such are the findings of a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey just announced moments ago (emphasis added throughout):