The U.S. Congress is on the naughty list in the last week before Christmas - they’re at the very bottom of the public’s rating for honest and ethical standards, this according to a new Gallup poll. At the tip top of the roster: the nation’s nurses. “Historically, honesty and ethics ratings for members of Congress have generally not been positive, with the highest rating reaching 25 percent in 2001. Since 2009, Congress has ranked at or near the bottom of the list, usually tied with other poorly viewed professions like car salespeople and - when they have been included - lobbyists, telemarketers, HMO managers, stockbrokers and advertising practitioners,” reports Gallup analyst Rebecca Riffkin.
“Although members of Congress and car salespeople have similar percentages rating their honesty and ethics as very high or high, members of Congress are much more likely to receive low” or very low ratings - 61 percent - compared with 45 percent for car salespeople. Last year, 66 percent of Americans rated Congress’ honesty and ethics low or very low, the worst Gallup has measured for any profession historically,” the analyst adds.
And the numbers: 80 percent of Americans rate nurses as having very high or high honesty and ethical standards.
65 percent say the same about pharmacists and medical doctors; 48 percent say that about police officers.
46 percent cite clergy, 23 percent cite bankers, and 21 percent lawyers.
17 percent cite business executives, 10 percent advertising practitioners and 8 percent used car sales people.
7 percent cite the U.S. Congress for high or very high honesty and ethical standards.
Source: A Gallup poll of 805 U.S. adults conducted Dec. 8-11 and released Thursday.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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