GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- Business and industry have come under unusually
intense scrutiny this year, fueled in large part by the continuing
revelations of corporate corruption, misstated financials, and
chief executives profiting personally even as their companies go in
the tank. Gallup's annual update on the images of major business
and industry sectors provides insight into how various components
of the U.S. business landscape today stack up in the public's eye
-- and what has and has not changed from last year.
Major Conclusions
Only five out of 24 business and industry sectors measured in
the Aug. 5-8 Gallup poll are rated positively by more than 50% of
Americans: the computer, restaurant, grocery, retail, and farming
and agricultural sectors. On the other hand, seven industries have
overall net negative ratings, meaning that more Americans rate them
negatively than rate them positively, including four with net
negative ratings of –10% or less: health care, the oil and
gas industry, the legal field and the pharmaceutical industry.
The positive ratings of the majority of industries have stayed
the same or declined compared to last year. Accounting has suffered
the most -- with a drop of 16 percentage points in its positive
ratings from August of last year to August of this year. Other
sectors whose positive ratings have fallen, in addition to
accounting, include publishing, travel, farming and agriculture,
advertising, the legal field and health care. Only a few business
sectors have gained in public esteem -- most notably retail and the
electric and gas utilities.
Details
- Overall, about three in 10 Americans have a positive image of
the accounting sector this year, down from almost half who had a
positive image of accounting last year. About a third of Americans
now have a neutral view of this sector and an additional one-third
view accounting negatively.
Ratings of Business Sectors
2001-2002 Change in Sector Image |
 |
- Americans' overall views of several other business sectors have
also deteriorated in the past year, including the publishing
industry, with a 9-percentage-point drop; the travel industry and
farming and agriculture, each with an 8-percentage-point decrease;
and the legal field, health care industry, and the advertising and
public relations industry, each with a 7-percentage-point
drop.
- The only two business sectors with significant gains over the
last year are the retail industry, with a 7-percentage-point
increase and electric and gas utilities, with a 5-percentage-point
increase.
- Thirteen of the industries have net positive ratings, in which
the percentage of the public giving them positive ratings outweighs
the percentage giving them negative ratings by more than just a
percentage point or two. Of these, the highest rated are the
computer, restaurant, grocery, retail, farming and real estate
sectors -- with only real estate having less than a 50% net
positive rating.
| Ratings of Business Sectors |
 |
| Ratings of Business Sectors |
 |
- Although the image of accounting suffered the most in the past
year, this industry is still not at the bottom of the list.
Accounting has a 31% positive and a 31% negative rating, which puts
it at zero in terms of its net image (i.e., positive rating minus
negative rating). Several other industries have net ratings that
are well into negative territory. These include health care
(–19%), the oil and gas industry (–19%), the legal
field (–17%), and the pharmaceutical industry
(–10%).
- All in all, the three industry sectors with the highest
negatives are health care, oil and gas, and pharmaceuticals.
Implications
None of these industry sectors have extremely positive images
and many have images that can be described at best as average. The
top industry among those tested -- computers -- is rated positively
by 62% of the public. That's a clear majority, but not an
overwhelming number. All but five of the industries tested are
given positive ratings by less than half of the public. Part of
this less-than-outstanding positioning of business today is the
result of the changes that have occurred since last year; the
images of all but eight of the sectors tested have become more
negative.
Still, one of the fascinating findings in these data is the
degree to which the public differentiates among industries. The
question used as the basis for the ratings was not specific; it
simply asked Americans to say whether their overall view of each
industry was positive, neutral or negative. This means we are
measuring what are akin to gut instincts, or suggestive indicators
of more basic ways in which businesses are positioned in the
thinking and even emotions of the respondents.
And it is clear that the immediate, visceral reaction of the
public to several of these sectors is decidedly negative. As
mentioned above, four in particular stand out as the sources for
particularly negative reactions: two related to health (the health
care industry and the pharmaceutical industry), the legal field,
and finally, the oil and gas industry.
Gallup polling has shown for many years that lawyers have low
ratings on an honesty and ethical scale. Thus, it is no surprise to
find how poor the image of the legal profession is in the eyes of
the average American.
The negative positioning of the oil and gas industry is a little
more difficult to understand precisely. The high price of gasoline
(particularly at certain points) may contribute to a negative
reaction to the industry. One might also suspect that the highly
publicized troubles associated with energy company Enron could have
been responsible for the low positioning of the oil and gas
industry, but this sector received scores that were just as low
last summer, before Enron had become a household name.
The negative way in which the health care and pharmaceutical
industries are viewed certainly gives us pause for thought. These
ratings are so negative as to suggest a significantly pent-up anger
on the part of the population toward their health care and drug
system that could have significant political effects in the months
and years to come. It was almost 10 years ago that Bill and Hillary
Clinton attempted to address the nation's approach to health care
issues. Although that attempt was a failure, the underlying issues
that prompted the review are in many ways still with us. Clearly
these data suggest that the public is ripe for some changes in the
ways it receives and pays for health care and drugs.
The loss in image positioning for the accounting industry is not
surprising, given the focus on Arthur Andersen's role with Enron
and other corporations and on the role accounting practices should
have had in uncovering other financial misreporting. These have
dominated the news in recent months.
One final point. Although the 47% positive rating received by
education puts it near the top of the list, it is interesting to
note that a full 36% of the public gives education a negative
rating, much higher than the negative ratings given to the other
sectors with positives in the upper-40% range. In short, education
has somewhat of a polarized image, with groups of Americans who
have positive views of the sector balanced by groups with negative
views.
Survey Methods
The results reported here are based on telephone interviews with
a randomly selected national sample of 1,007 adults, 18 years and
older, conducted Aug. 5-8, 2002. For results based on this sample,
one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error
attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus
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.
For each of the following business sectors in the United
States, please say whether your overall view of it is very
positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative or very
negative. How about -- [RANDOM ORDER]?
[BASED ON -- 518 -- ADULTS IN FORM A]
A. Accounting
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
7%
|
24
|
32
|
19
|
12
|
6
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
10%
|
37
|
40
|
7
|
1
|
5
|
B. Farming and agriculture
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
16%
|
35
|
28
|
12
|
4
|
5
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
23%
|
36
|
24
|
10
|
5
|
2
|
C. Automobile industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
10%
|
36
|
31
|
12
|
7
|
4
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
11%
|
34
|
28
|
20
|
6
|
1
|
D. Electric and gas utilities
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
9%
|
27
|
27
|
24
|
11
|
2
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
9%
|
22
|
21
|
30
|
17
|
1
|
E. Oil and gas industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
6%
|
19
|
28
|
28
|
16
|
3
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
7%
|
17
|
21
|
33
|
21
|
1
|
F. Banking
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
12%
|
34
|
29
|
17
|
7
|
1
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
12%
|
35
|
31
|
13
|
7
|
2
|
G. Restaurant industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
16%
|
45
|
28
|
7
|
1
|
3
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
15%
|
47
|
28
|
6
|
2
|
2
|
H. Grocery industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
18%
|
40
|
25
|
13
|
3
|
1
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
18%
|
39
|
29
|
11
|
2
|
1
|
I. Health care industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
10%
|
20
|
19
|
32
|
17
|
2
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
11%
|
26
|
19
|
29
|
15
|
*
|
J. Internet industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
14%
|
29
|
26
|
16
|
5
|
10
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
14%
|
30
|
26
|
20
|
7
|
3
|
K. The legal field
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
4%
|
18
|
35
|
24
|
15
|
4
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
7%
|
22
|
24
|
28
|
17
|
2
|
L. Advertising and public relations industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
7%
|
24
|
34
|
23
|
9
|
3
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
10%
|
28
|
28
|
23
|
9
|
2
|
M. Television and radio industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
11%
|
31
|
24
|
23
|
9
|
2
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
11%
|
31
|
22
|
24
|
12
|
*
|
N. Movie industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
12%
|
22
|
27
|
22
|
13
|
4
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
9%
|
24
|
23
|
24
|
17
|
3
|
O. Sports industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
15%
|
20
|
28
|
22
|
11
|
4
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
14%
|
24
|
28
|
21
|
12
|
1
|
P. Publishing industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
8%
|
30
|
37
|
15
|
5
|
5
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
12%
|
35
|
32
|
13
|
5
|
3
|
Q. Pharmaceutical industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
11%
|
22
|
22
|
25
|
18
|
2
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
12%
|
27
|
22
|
24
|
14
|
1
|
R. Real Estate industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
12%
|
35
|
32
|
13
|
4
|
4
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
12%
|
34
|
32
|
16
|
4
|
2
|
S. Education
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
12%
|
35
|
16
|
27
|
9
|
1
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
13%
|
37
|
18
|
23
|
9
|
*
|
T. Retail industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
12%
|
42
|
30
|
11
|
2
|
3
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
12%
|
35
|
34
|
14
|
3
|
2
|
U. Travel industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
9%
|
33
|
35
|
15
|
2
|
6
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
11%
|
39
|
35
|
11
|
2
|
2
|
V. Telephone industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
10%
|
24
|
27
|
24
|
13
|
2
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
10%
|
29
|
24
|
27
|
10
|
*
|
W. Airline industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
7%
|
24
|
33
|
24
|
6
|
6
|
|
2001 Aug 16-19
|
10%
|
27
|
29
|
23
|
7
|
4
|
X. Computer industry
|
Very
posi-
tive
|
Some-what
positive
|
Neutral
|
Some-what negative
|
Very
nega-
tive
|
No
opin.
|
|
2002 Aug 5-8
|
20%
|
42
|
24
|
5
|
4
|
5
|
|
2001 Aug 17-19 ^
|
27%
|
40
|
20
|
9
|
1
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
^ BASED ON -- 326 -- NATIONAL ADULTS INTERVIEWED AUG. 17-19,
2001.
|
SUMMARY TABLE: BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY RATINGS
|
2002 Aug 5-8
(sorted by "net positive")
|
Total
posi-
tive
|
Neutral
|
Total
nega-
tive
|
Net
positive
|
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
|
Computer industry
|
62
|
24
|
9
|
53
|
|
Restaurant industry
|
61
|
28
|
8
|
53
|
|
Grocery industry
|
58
|
25
|
16
|
42
|
|
Retail industry
|
54
|
30
|
13
|
41
|
|
Farming and agriculture
|
51
|
28
|
16
|
35
|
|
Real Estate industry
|
47
|
32
|
17
|
30
|
|
Automobile industry
|
46
|
31
|
19
|
27
|
|
Travel industry
|
42
|
35
|
17
|
25
|
|
Banking
|
46
|
29
|
24
|
22
|
|
Internet industry
|
43
|
26
|
21
|
22
|
|
Publishing industry
|
38
|
37
|
20
|
18
|
|
Education
|
47
|
16
|
36
|
11
|
|
Television and radio industry
|
42
|
24
|
32
|
10
|
|
Sports industry
|
35
|
28
|
33
|
2
|
|
Electric and gas utilities
|
36
|
27
|
35
|
1
|
|
Airline industry
|
31
|
33
|
30
|
1
|
|
Accounting
|
31
|
32
|
31
|
0
|
|
Movie industry
|
34
|
27
|
35
|
-1
|
|
Adv.and publ. relations ind.
|
31
|
34
|
32
|
-1
|
|
Telephone industry
|
34
|
27
|
37
|
-3
|
|
Pharmaceutical industry
|
33
|
22
|
43
|
-10
|
|
The legal field
|
22
|
35
|
39
|
-17
|
|
Health care industry
|
30
|
19
|
49
|
-19
|
|
Oil and gas industry
|
25
|
28
|
44
|
-19
|
