Just 29% of Americans responding to the latest Gallup poll rated “the honesty and ethical standards” of 11 leading professions as high or very high.
The public opinion firm reported this month that this rating passed the previous low of 30% set in 2023 and 2024 for advertisers, bankers, clergy, lawyers, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, police officers, business executives, car salespeople and members of Congress.
Gallup has conducted annual surveys about these professions since 1999. The company found that roughly 40% of adults viewed them as highly ethical for much of the 2000s and early 2010s.
“Although nurses and other healthcare professionals remain among the most trusted, their ratings, along with those of many other professions, have declined from pandemic-era highs, leaving overall ethics ratings across many occupations at or near historic lows,” Megan Brenan, a Gallup senior editor, wrote in a summary of the findings.
Turning to specific professions, 75% of U.S. adults surveyed last month rated nurses’ ethics as high or very high; 57% said the same of medical doctors and 53% of pharmacists.
By contrast, just 5% of adults expressed the same sentiment about telemarketers, 7% about members of Congress and 7% about car salespeople.
Souring attitudes among Democrats drove the latest decline in ethical views. Self-identified Republicans and Republican-leaners were 34 percentage points likelier than Democrats to call police officers highly ethical. They were also 15 percentage points likelier to say the same of clergy.
“Police officers’ rating has shifted the most in the past year, falling seven points,” Ms. Brenan wrote.
By contrast, some Republicans have soured on health care professionals since the pandemic. The survey found that Democrats and Democrat-leaners were 17 percentage points likelier than Republicans to rate nurses as highly ethical, and 16 points likelier to say the same of doctors.
Members of both political parties shared a low opinion of lawyers, advertisers, pharmacists, business executives, car salespeople and members of Congress.
Gallup conducted a randomized national telephone survey of 1,016 adults from Dec. 1-15. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
