Gallup: Journalists, Politicians, Still Far Down in 'Ethical' Standings

By: E&P Staff The annual Gallup Poll asking Americans to rate, on a scale of one to five, the honesty and ethical standards of those in 21 professions again placed nurses at the very top with an 82% favorite score. Journalists, U.S. senators and congressmen trailed badly.

In fact, the senators and congressmen, near the very bottom of the list, should heed this call: They finished behind lawyers and building contractors.

Those in advertising finished below congressmen but managed to beat out car salesmen and telemarketers.

Receiving the highest ethical scores in order were nurses, pharmacists , medical doctors, high school teachers, policemen, and clergy, with journalists trailing badly.

Telemarketers were at the bottom, edging out car salesmen for that dishonor.

Nurses have led the list 6 of the lat 7 years, losing out only in 2001 to firefighters after 9/11.

Gallup assessed other trends:

* This is the first time bankers have exceeded 40% very high/high ratings. They have received ratings as low as 26%.

* Pharmacists' ratings dropped slightly this year, to 67% from 72% from last year.

* Clergy ratings have not yet recovered since the Catholic priest sex abuse scandal became an issue. After a 64% rating in 2001, ratings of the clergy's honesty and ethics fell to 52% in 2002 and are at 54% today.

* Business executives had shown some improvement in recent years, but their ratings have fallen back this year. After dropping from 25% in 2001 to 16% in 2002, they inched up to 20% last year. However, this year, they returned to the 16% level.

Here are the rankings, with the percentage giving each group a high or very high ranking:

Nurses 82
Druggists/Pharmacists 67
Medical doctors 65
High school teachers 64
Policemen 61
Clergy 54
Funeral directors 44
Bankers 41
Accountants 39
Journalists 28
Real estate agents 20
Building contractors 20
Lawyers 18
Labor union leaders 16
Senators 16
Business executives 16
Stockbrokers 16
Congressmen 14
Advertising practitioners 11
Car salesmen 8
Telemarketers 7