By Aaron Earls
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans are more likely to trust medical professionals, while few believe pastors are completely honest.
Gallup’s annual ratings on the honesty and ethical standards of the professions show that nurses remain the most trusted, followed by doctors, grade-school teachers and pharmacists.
As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its second year, medical professionals top the list of most trusted professions. The 89% of Americans who give nurses high or very high marks for honesty marks a record percentage, up from 85% last year. Physician ratings improved 12 points to 77%, while pharmacists’ ratings rose seven points to 71%.
The public also seems to notice the work required for teachers to balance in-person and distance learning during the pandemic. Those who gave elementary teachers the highest marks for honesty reached 75% in the most recent survey.
Despite the drop in recent years, police officers are the only other profession about which a majority of Americans (52%) say they have high or very high ethics and honesty.
Americans’ opinion of clergy honesty falls between judges and nursing home administrators. About 2 in 5 (39%) say pastors have at least high ethical standards, including 10% who say their honesty is very high.
For 41% of the public, the honesty and ethical standards of the clergy are average, while 11% rate it as low and 4% as very low. Another 4% say they have no opinion on the honesty of pastors, the highest of any profession.
Half (51%) of Americans over the age of 55 say that the clergy have high honesty, while less than half (24%) %) of people between the ages of 18 and 34 agree.
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Women are more likely than men to rate pastors as ethical. Americans with college degrees give clergy higher honesty ratings than those with only a high school education or less.
This is the second time since Gallup began surveying Americans about their confidence in various occupations that fewer than 2 in 5 gave the clergy the highest ratings.
Two years ago, pastors reached their lowest score with 37% saying they have high or very high honesty. Last year, the clergy rose again to 40% before falling back to 39% in the latest poll.
In 1985, 67% said that clergy had high or very high ethical and honesty standards – the high point mark for the profession.
Since 2002, however, positive views about clergy honesty have dissipated, fueled in part by revelations of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church and other denominations.
After briefly leveling off, Americans’ positive views of pastors’ ethics have declined eight of the last 10 years.
Ratings of professions by public perception of honesty:
- Nurses (89% high/very high)
- Physicians (77%)
- Primary teachers (75%)
- Pharmacists (75%)
- Police officers (52%)
- Judges (43%)
- Clerics (39%)
- Nursing home operators (36%)
- Bankers (29%)
- Journalists (28%)
- Lawyers (21%)
- Business executives (17%)
- Advertising professionals (10%)
- Car dealers (8%)
- Members of Congress (8%)
Aaron Earl’s
@Wardrobedoor
Aaron is the Senior Writer/Editor at LifewayResearch.com.