For the eighth consecutive year, nurses are at the top of Gallup’s annual list of occupations rated for their honesty and ethical standards, with 84% of Americans rating nurses’ ethics as “very high” or “high.” Four of the five next most highly regarded professions are also in the medical field: pharmacists, veterinarians, physicians, and dentists, with more than 6 in 10 rating the honesty and ethics of these workers as very high or high. Just over one-third of Americans give high praise for honesty and ethical standards to psychiatrists and chiropractors. The good news for these professionals is that the balance of public opinion is more neutral than negative about them. Those receiving about equal levels of positive and negative ratings include journalists, state governors, stockbrokers, and business executives. About half of Americans consider the ethics of each of these to be average. Car salespeople are at the bottom of the list, with a majority (55%) of respondents saying they have low or very low ethics. Other than car salespeople, the professions that stand out for receiving substantially more negative than positive ratings include congressmen, health maintenance organization managers, advertising practitioners, insurance salespeople, senators, and lawyers.
