Public Views Pharmacists as Trusted Professionals with High Levels of Virtue

Pharmacists are still among the most highly trusted in their occupations, according to the latest Gallup poll.^1,2

The poll ranked pharmacists fourth for honesty and ethical standards among professionals in the United States, with 64% of respondents rating their trustworthiness as “very high” or “high.”¹

Pharmacists ranked behind nurses (85% rated “very high” or “high”), who held the top spot for the 18th consecutive year, engineers (66%), and medical doctors (65%). Following pharmacists, dentists (61%) rounded out the top 5 most trusted professionals.¹

Poll responses were collected in telephone interviews conducted by Gallup from December 2, 2019, to December 15, 2019, using a sample of 1025 US adults aged 18 years and older. A mix of landline and cellular telephone numbers were selected for the poll, using the random-digit dialing method, according to Gallup. Respondents resided in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.¹

At the bottom of the 2019 ranking for trustworthiness were car salespeople (9% rated “very high” or “high”). Senators and members of Congress also landed near the bottom of listed professions, earning 12% and 13% ratings, respectively, for honesty and ethical standards.¹

Other occupations, including clergy, chiropractors, psychiatrists, labor union leaders, and journalists, had more “average” levels of trust from poll respondents.¹

Pharmacists’ ranking in the 2019 Gallup poll is a slight downgrade from their standing in the previous year’s poll, which ranked these professionals third among occupations included in the survey. Previously, 66% of respondents had rated the honesty and ethical standards of pharmacists as “high” or “very high.”²

In 2018, high school teachers and police officers ranked in the top 5 for trusted professionals in the Gallup poll. However, neither of those occupations was included in the top tier of the 2019 poll.^1,2

Gallup has measured the public’s views of various occupations’ honesty and ethics since 1976. Although the rankings and the list of included occupations change each year, the latest poll’s results revealed that health care workers are consistently rated highly for their trustworthiness.²

REFERENCES

• Reinhart RJ. Nurses continue to rate highest in honesty, ethics. Gallup website.news.gallup.com/poll/274673/nurses-continue-rate-highest-honesty-ethics.aspx. Published January 6, 2020. Accessed February 11, 2020.
• Brenan M. Nurses again outpace other professions for honesty, ethics. Gallup website. news.gallup.com/poll/245597/nurses-again-outpace-professions-honesty- ethics.aspx. Published December 20, 2018. Accessed February 11, 2020.