Ethics ratings of almost all professions drop in Gallup survey

Americans view most professions as less ethical than they did in recent years, according to a Gallup survey released Monday.

The new survey asked 800 respondents to rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in 23 fields. It showed labor union leaders were the only profession rated more highly in 2023 (25 percent) than they were in 2019 (24 percent). All professions in the new survey — except veterinarians — were listed in 2019’s survey.

Nurses had the highest rating, at 78 percent, down from 85 percent in 2019. The profession peaked in 2020, at 89 percent. This is the 22nd consecutive year nurses have held a positive rating.

Five professions hit their record-low ratings since Gallup started surveying the ethics of various professions in 1976: pharmacists (55 percent), clergy (32 percent), journalists (19 percent), senators (8 percent) and members of Congress (6 percent).

Three other professions tied their previous low points: Bankers (19 percent) and business executives (12 percent) were rated this poorly last in 2009, just after the Great Recession, according to Gallup. College instructors (42 percent) last had this low of a rating in 1977.

Gallup also tracked the partisan splits in views of various fields and found Democrats or those who lean Democrat viewed every profession more ethically than Republicans did — except for police officers, which 37 percent of Democrats rated ethically and 55 percent of Republicans rated ethically.

College educators saw the biggest gap in partisan ethics ratings, with 62 percent of Democrats and 22 percent of Republicans viewing the field as ethical; psychiatrists followed with a 28-point gap between the partisan groups, journalists followed with a 25-point gap between the parties, and labor union leaders had a 20-point gap.