WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney says he doesn't listen to public opinion polls; public opinion polls say Dick Cheney (and other politicians) should listen to public opinion polls. But how do you convince a politician that he should -- according to the people -- listen to public opinion polls when he doesn't believe in them?

In an interview aired March 19 on ABC News, Cheney said he did not listen to public opinion polls; however, a new poll finds that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe government leaders should pay attention to public opinion polls and that the public should generally have more influence over government leaders than it does.

This latest poll conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org is part of a larger international research project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland. The study was conducted Jan. 18-27 on a total of 975 Americans by Knowledge Networks. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.2 percentage points. Here's what they found:

When it comes to making an important decision, 81 percent say government leaders "should pay attention to public opinion polls because this will help them get a sense of the public's views." But that is assuming government leaders really care what the public thinks, especially when they are not up for re-election.

Only 18 percent of respondents said "they should not pay attention to public opinion polls because this will distract them from deciding what they think is right."