Three per cent find US tobacco industry generally honest and trustworthy

An annual Harris Poll that measures how people in the US perceive various industries has found that tobacco is not among the top ranks when it comes to being ‘generally honest and trustworthy’, according to a press note issued through PRNewswire.

In fact, the tobacco industry was at the bottom of the heap with only three per cent of people saying they thought it was generally honest and trustworthy. Still, only six per cent trusted the oil industry, only eight per cent trusted social media, only nine per cent trusted managed care and telecoms, only 11 per cent trusted health insurance, and only 12 per cent pharmaceuticals, car manufacturers, airlines and life insurance.

Thirty six per cent said they didn’t find any of the 19 large ‘industries’ covered by the poll generally honest and trustworthy so that you normally believed a statement by a company working in that industry.

The poll found that the most trusted were supermarkets (38 per cent), hospitals (36 per cent), online search engines (22 per cent), computer software and hardware companies (20 per cent), banks (20 per cent), and electric and gas utilities. (20 per cent)

The industries that the biggest proportion of people would like to see more regulated are oil (45 per cent), pharmaceutical (43 per cent), health insurance (40 per cent), banking and tobacco (34 per cent), electric and gas utilities (31 per cent), and managed care companies (30 per cent).

But 31 per cent of people didn’t want any of the industries to be more regulated.

The Harris Poll surveyed 2,383 adults online between November 14 and 19, 2012.