When Americans are asked whether or not they would generally trust a list of people in different professions and occupations to tell the truth, the largest numbers say they generally trust teachers (86%), clergymen or priests (85%), doctors (83%), scientists (79%) and judges (79%). Professors (77%) and police officers (75%) closely follow these.
Almost as many people (71%) say they would generally trust ordinary men and women to tell the truth. A 70% majority say they would generally trust civil servants to tell the truth.
At the other end of the spectrum, majorities say they would generally not trust trade union leaders (58%), journalists (52%), TV newscasters (52%) or members of the Congress (51%) to tell the truth.
In spite of the fact that President Clinton has admitted to lying to the American people about Monica Lewinsky, a modest 54% to 44% majority of adults would generally trust him to tell them the truth.
This Harris Poll used virtually identical questions to those asked last year in a survey in Great Britain conducted by Market & Opinion Research International (MORI). The results show that in general Americans are more trusting than the Brits, who are more likely to say they would not trust most of these occupations. The one huge exception is TV newscasters (known as "newsreaders" in Britain). In the U.S., only 44% of adults say they would generally believe them; in Britain fully 74% say they generally trust "newsreaders" to tell them the truth. However, Americans are much more likely to trust civil servants (70% vs. 36% in Britain), journalists (43% vs. 15%), business leaders (49% vs. 29%), scientists (79% vs. 63%) and ordinary men and women (71% vs. 56%).
Pollsters have more or less the same credibility as the President; a 55% to 38% majority say they would generally trust what we report. Things could be worse I suppose, but to be trusted only as much as a president who faces possible impeachment for perjury is not exactly a resounding vote of confidence. We pollsters must do better than this!
Humphrey Taylor is the Chairman of Louis Harris & Associates, Inc.
TABLE 1
WHO WOULD YOU GENERALLY TRUST?
"Would you generally trust each of the following types of people to tell the truth or not – (READ EACH ITEM)?"
*In Great Britain: "the police."
**In Great Britain: "TV newsreaders."
Methodology
This Harris Poll was conducted by telephone within the United States between October 14 to 20, among a nationwide cross section of 1,013 adults. In Great Britain, MORI interviewed 997 adults in April of last year. Figures for age, sex, race, education, number of adults and number of voice/telephone lines in the household were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in these populations.
In theory, with a sample of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is difficult or impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.
These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
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