Who Do Americans Trust Most?

The Gallup organization regularly surveys Americans on people in professions that they trust the most. Over the years, certain professions have become more or less trusted. Let’s look at the most recent surveys of most trusted professions.

Who is at the top of the list?

Not surprisingly, nurses are the most trusted, with 78 percent of those surveyed saying they believe nurses have high levels of honesty and ethics. Other health care professionals are also among the most trusted professions—veterinarians (the first time they’ve been measured in these surveys), dentists, doctors, and pharmacists all receive ratings above 50 percent on honesty/ethicality (although all of these scores have dropped significantly since before the pandemic).

Who is next?

College teachers, clergy, and labor union leaders receive trust scores between 42 and 25 percent. (You may be saying to yourself, Those aren’t very high scores!)

Let’s look at the bottom of the list.

No surprise. The least trusted profession, with a measly 6 percent (down from prepandemic 12 percent) are members of Congress, with Senators just a hair above them (8 percent). These, our government officials, are lower than the stereotyped untrustworthy professions of car salesperson, advertisers, and insurance salespersons (8 to 12 percent).

Among those with the biggest drops in their ratings of trust/honesty since the pandemic (2019) are police officers, bankers, and journalists. This is not surprising given our politically polarized society and recent ethical violations from police officers and financial institutions.

What are some of the psychological factors that may be affecting these ratings?

Here are four possible reasons:

1. Self-sacrifice: Nurses especially, but also many members of the health professions, risked their own health by treating infected others during the pandemic.
2. They serve us … directly: Moreover, these health care professionals are the people we entrust with our health and well-being, so we believe they have our best interests at heart. Clergy and labor union leaders also seem to be serving our best interests.
3. WIIFM (What’s in it for me?): Why are some of the professions at the bottom in terms of trust? Well, there is a general impression that business and salespeople are just out to make themselves rich, and our seemingly inert and dysfunctional government suggests that members of Congress and the Senate are only in this for themselves.
4. The job is nasty, not cushy: Health care workers have to deal with illness, pain, and death. Everyone knows that these are stressful jobs that expose workers to long hours, difficult patients, and disease. On the other hand, members of Congress seem to be having it pretty easy. They take long breaks/vacations from working, have lots of perks, and have high salaries.

Perhaps the most interesting and depressing result is that trust in every single one of the professions surveyed has declined since 2019, which may reflect the nation’s general impression that things are not too good. Here are the overall results from Gallup.