Nurses Top List in Honesty and Ethics Poll

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup's annual survey on the honesty and ethical standards of various professions finds nurses at the top of the list, as they have been all but one year since they were first added to the poll in 1999. Almost 8 in 10 Americans, 79%, give the nurses a "very high" or "high" rating, down slightly from 83% last year. In 2001, shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, nurses were topped by firefighters, who received a very high/high rating from 90% of Americans.

More generally, this year's honesty and ethics poll shows that Americans continue to give their highest ratings to the public service professions, like the military, teachers, and members of the medical profession. Public protectors also rate highly. The lowest rated professions tend to be those connected with sales or big business, lawyers, elected officeholders, and reporters.

Grade school teachers come in second this year, given a very high/high rating by 73% of respondents, followed by pharmacists and military officers, who are tied at 72% each. Not all professions are asked every year, and this is the first year that "grade school teachers" have been included as a separate item. In prior years, Gallup asked about "grade school and high school teachers," which received significantly lower average ratings (59%) than what grade school teachers got this year. When Gallup asked about "high school teachers" in isolation in 2002, they received a very high/high ethical rating of 64% -- lower than the 73% for grade school teachers in isolation that was measured in this poll. This suggests that people have a higher opinion of grade-school teachers than high school teachers. Also, each group receives higher ratings when evaluated alone than when evaluated together.

Medical doctors come in next on the list at 67%, followed by policemen (60%), clergy (56%), judges (53%), and daycare providers (49%). Lowest on the list are car salesmen (9%) and advertising practitioners (10%). Lawyers (18%) and congressmen (20%) are only a little higher in rank.

3. Please tell me how you would rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in these different fields -- very high, high, average, low, or very low? First, ... Next, ...[RANDOM ORDER]

Politicians typically fare somewhat poorly in this survey. Local and state officeholders each score in the 24% to 26% range, about where senators and governors have scored in previous years.

An analysis tomorrow on www.gallup.com will review the trends in these measures.

Survey Methods

The results are based on telephone interviews with 1,015 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Nov. 19-21, 2004. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

3. Please tell me how you would rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in these different fields -- very high, high, average, low, or very low? First, ... Next, ...[RANDOM ORDER]