The FINANCIAL — An annual Harris Poll that measures the percentage of Americans perceiving 19 large industries as "generally honest and trustworthy" finds that the most trusted industries are supermarkets and hospitals, followed distantly by online search engines, computer software companies, banks, computer hardware companies and electric and gas utilities.
The poll also finds that industries which the largest percentages of U.S. adults would like to see "more regulated" are oil, pharmaceutical, health insurance, tobacco, banking, electric and gas utilities and managed care companies such as HMOs. The banking industry has made some gains since last year, but is still well off their highs from 2004.
When asked which industries are generally honest and trustworthy so that you normally believe a statement by a company in that industry, over one-third of Americans (36%) reply "none of these," a decrease from last year when 43% indicated the same. The industries that are least trusted are tobacco (3%), oil (6%), social media (8%), managed care (9%), telecom (9%), health insurance (11%), pharmaceuticals (12%), car manufacturers (12%), airlines (12%) and life insurance (12%). The industries trusted by the highest percentages of Americans are supermarkets (38%), hospitals (36%), online search engines (22%), computer software and hardware companies (20% each), banks (20%) and electric and gas utilities (20%). The biggest changes since last year on this question are an 8-point gain in those who trust banks and a 7-point gain for both supermarkets and hospitals.
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