Gallup Rates Nurses Highest on Ethics

Nurses continue to garner the highest ethics rating from Americans who vote for this honor, and they get to choose among a diverse list of professions. In fact, nurses have held this distinction for more than two decades.

The 79% of U.S. adults who now say nurses have “very high” or “high” honesty and ethical standards is far more than any of the other 17 professions that are rated by this prestigious poll. This year’s current rating, however, is 10 percentage points lower than the highest rating that has been recorded for nurses. This was recorded in 2020, when nurses were on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic and their ethics ratings soared.

Two other health-related professions that enjoyed similar bumps in their ethics ratings in 2020 – medical doctors and pharmacists – now rank second and third behind nurses, with 62% and 58% of Americans, respectively, rating them highly. Like nurses, both of these professions’ ethics ratings dropped significantly in 2021 and edged down further this year. All three are now below their pre-pandemic levels. However these medical professionals still outscore many other professions in the annual Gallup poll as they are recognized by the American public for their service. OSM