Poll: Here are the professions Americans trust the most – and least
Maine nurse turns lost stuffed animal into hospital adventure story for young patient
A heartwarming incident unfolded at a Maine hospital when a 6-year-old girl left behind her stuffed pig, "Piggy," after undergoing tonsil surgery. To alleviate the stress, a nurse embarked on a creative endeavor, taking Piggy on a hospital adventure. (Credit: Northern Light Health)
WASHINGTON - A majority of Americans consider nurses to be highly honest and ethical, making them the most trusted profession in Gallup’s annual poll.
The least-trusted professions appeared to be lobbyists, members of Congress and TV reporters in the poll.
Gallup’s "2025 Honesty and Ethics of Professions Ratings," a poll conducted between Dec. 2 and Dec. 18, 2024, ranked grade-school teachers second, with 61% of Americans viewing them highly.
Military officers, pharmacists and medical doctors also earned high trust from the majority of Americans in the survey.
FILE - A Cardiac ICU Nurse is pictured at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Gallup said nurses have earned the highest rating nearly every year since the polling company added them to the annual survey in 1999. The exception was in 2001, when firefighters earned a record 90% trust rating after their heroism in responding to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Meanwhile, clergy and judges have fallen the most over time, Gallup said.
There has been a 26-point decline in the perceived honesty and ethics of clergy, the most for any group, since Gallup started rating all 23 professions in the early 2000s. The second-most-significant decline in ethics ratings has been for judges, who have experienced a 21-point drop since the early 2000s, according to Gallup.
"There has been more shifting of the rank order in the middle of the list, particularly with clergy, judges and TV reporters moving down several places," Gallup noted in its polling report. "Others have shifted up by default, but of the 23 professions measured this year, auto mechanics alone have moved up on account of an improved honesty and ethics score."
Professions Americans trust the most: Gallup poll
The Gallup poll asked participants, "Please tell me how you would rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in these different fields -- very high, high, average, low or very low?"
The professions that ranked "majority positive" were:
- Nurses
- Grade-school teachers
- Military officers
- Pharmacists
- Medical doctors
Professions Americans trust the least: Gallup poll
- Lobbyists
- Members of Congress
- TV reporters
- Advertising practitioners
- Car salespeople
The Source: This story was reported using information published by Gallup on Jan. 13, 2025 regarding its 2025 Honesty and Ethics of Professions Ratings. It was reported from Cincinnati.