Once again, we report on the perceived honesty of professionals. Annually, Gallup conducts a large survey. Click here for last year’s post. Then, scroll down for the results of the 2018 poll.
2018 Gallup Poll: Perceived Honesty of Professionals
In this section, we summarize the findings of the 2018 Gallup Poll and present an infographic.
“More than four in five Americans (84%) again rate the honesty and ethical standards of nurses as ‘very high’ or ‘high,’ earning them the top spot among a diverse list of professions for the 17th consecutive year. At the same time, members of Congress are again held in the lowest esteem, as nearly 58% of Americans say they have ‘low’ or ‘very low’ ethical standards. Telemarketers join members of Congress as having a majority of low/very low ratings.”
“Bottom Line — Healthcare workers, including nurses, medical doctors, and pharmacists, continue to earn the highest ratings from Americans for their honesty and ethical standards.”
It’s a nice talking point, but it really doesn’t mean that much. Pollsters have understood for decades that how people react in general terms has little bearing on what they do in specific situations, as in “I think all members of Congress should be tossed out. Except for my representative, of course, he’s OK.” That form of dissonance is how people can hate an institution like Congress while continuing to elect the same people to office. Or they can dislike a company’s CEO and still buy its products.