Nurses are the most honest and ethical profession, according to a recent Gallup poll, marking the 20th year in a row the profession has topped the list. But the poll also shows that, while medical professionals saw a bump in trust at the start of the pandemic, that trust is waning, and has some stark partisan splits.

Americans' trust in medical professionals

For the poll, Gallup asked 811 adults from all 50 states and the District of Columbia between Dec. 1 and Dec. 16, 2021 to rate the honesty and ethics of different occupations as very high, high, average, low, or very low.

For the 20th-straight year, nurses topped the list as the most honest and ethical profession, followed by medical doctors and grade-school teachers. Meanwhile, the professions rated as least honest and ethical were lobbyists, car salespeople, and members of Congress.

The poll found that in 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, nurses, medical doctors, and pharmacists all saw bumps in the percentage of people who rated their honesty and ethics as very high or high. However, that increase has since declined, according to the poll.

In fact, the 81% of people who rated nurses' honesty and ethics as very high or high is the lowest percentage for nurses since 2014.

The poll also found some stark partisan differences in the percentage of respondents who rated the honesty and ethics of medical doctors and pharmacists as very high or high. However, that difference was not found when it came to nurses.

(Masson, Becker's Hospital Review, 1/13; Saad, Gallup release, 1/12)