Honesty and Ethics in Decline

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

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Welcome to Front Page, where we break down Gallup's latest insights on our constantly evolving world. Here are the five insights you shouldn't miss this week:

1. Honesty and Ethics in Decline

Line Chart: Ethics ratings for five professions in the U.S., 1976-2023.

Our annual update on Americans' perceptions of the honesty and ethical standards of 23 professions reveals a general decline in ratings compared with recent years. Among the most notable professions to lose esteem are medical doctors and pharmacists, who continue to fall from an upswing enjoyed during the darkest days of the pandemic. At rock bottom are members of Congress. Nurses are leading the pack, albeit with a slightly diminished score from previous years. An impressive 78% of respondents rate nurses' honesty and ethics as "very high" or "high." Check out the full analysis to see how your industry fares.
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2. U.S. Journalists Fight an Uphill Battle

Line Chart: 34% of Democrats rated the honesty and ethics of journalists as very high/high in 2023.

In a crucial election year, ratings of the honesty and ethics of journalists have dipped to yet another all-time low in our trend, this time mostly owing to Democrats. However, when former President Donald Trump wrangled with the press during his presidency, Democrats rallied behind the profession, slightly boosting its overall ratings. It remains to be seen if that dynamic repeats itself over the next year should Trump prevail in the GOP primaries and switch his attention from the states to the national election and press.
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3. Rating Police Officers

Line Chart: 45% of U.S. adults rated the honesty and ethics of police as very high/high in 2023.

While policing is a local affair in the U.S., on the national level, Americans' perceptions of the honesty and ethics of the force in blue dipped another five points in our latest update. But the devil is in the details on this metric, with vastly different perceptions across both party lines and race. While a majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (55%) view the police as having "very high" or "high" ethical standards, Democrats and Democratic leaners (37%) are significantly less likely to agree. Similarly, while about half of White Americans (53%) give the police high marks for their honesty and ethics, not quite a third of non-White Americans (31%) share that view.
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4. U.S. Employee Engagement Stagnates

Line Chart: 33% of U.S. employees were engaged at work in 2023, while 16% were actively disengaged.

While employee engagement hit a historic high in 2020, those days seem long gone. Our latest workforce data highlight how engagement continues to stagnate in the world's largest economy. It's driven mostly by workers feeling detached from their employer and from the mission or purpose of their organization, as well as not feeling that their leaders care about them as a person. While the job market remains strong, these latest readings are cause for concern for any leader looking to retain their top talent.
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5. Indians' Trust in Government

Line Chart: 82% of Indians had confidence in their national government in 2023.

The largest democracy in the world goes to the polls this spring. Despite facing various challenges and controversies — including recent debates surrounding the establishment of a Hindu temple on the site of a mosque demolished by Hindu militants in 1992 — over eight in 10 Indians say they have confidence in their national government. This is an inauspicious sign for an already weakened opposition led by India's Congress Party, which holds only 52 of the 543 seats in the nation's Parliament today.
Read Series on India

And that's Front Page!

Mohamed Younis
Editor-in-Chief
Gallup

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