The Ipsos MORI Veracity Index 2018 shows advertising executives as Britain’s least trusted profession, sitting below politicians, government ministers, journalists and estate agents.
The long-running survey has asked the same trust question since 1983, and the 2018 release is its 21st wave. This year also marked the first time engineers, members of the Armed Forces and advertising executives were included in the poll.
Nurses remained the most trusted profession in Britain. Ipsos MORI said 96 per cent of respondents trusted nurses to tell the truth, ahead of doctors on 92 per cent.
At the other end of the table, only 16 per cent said they trusted advertising executives. That placed them behind politicians on 19 per cent and government ministers on 22 per cent. Journalists scored 26 per cent, while estate agents were on 30 per cent.
Engineers entered the survey strongly, with 87 per cent saying they would trust them to tell the truth. That put them among the country’s five most trusted professions. Trust in members of the Armed Forces was also high at 78 per cent, while the police stood at 76 per cent, up from 60 per cent in 2009.
Confidence in civil servants rose to 62 per cent in 2018, compared with 56 per cent in 2016 and 59 per cent in 2017. Ipsos MORI said civil servants have been the strongest risers across the life of the Veracity Index, with trust in the profession up 37 percentage points since 1983.
Other long-term gains included scientists, up 22 points since 1997, and trade union officials, up 27 points since 1983. Bankers also improved, rising from 31 per cent in 2013 to 41 per cent in 2018.
Priests were the only profession to show a clear long-term decline. Trust in them has fallen from 85 per cent in 1983, and the figure slipped again from 69 per cent to 62 per cent over the previous two years. TV news readers also fell five points in 2018, dropping from 67 per cent in 2017 to 62 per cent.
Among the new additions, engineers were especially trusted by people with degree-level qualifications, at 91 per cent, and by those in social grades AB. Trust in the Armed Forces was higher among Conservative Party supporters than Labour Party supporters, at 85 per cent versus 73 per cent. Advertising executives were distrusted across most groups, with Millennials the most trusting at 23 per cent and rural residents the least trusting at 9 per cent.
Using its Social Trust Index, Ipsos MORI said Britons on average trust 14 of the listed professions and distrust eight. The gap varies by age, education, housing status and politics, with Generation Z, Millennials, Remain supporters, Conservative Party voters, the middle classes and graduates tending to score higher. Lower-scoring groups included widowed, divorced or separated people, local authority tenants, those with no formal qualifications and people in social grades DE.
Political affiliation also shaped the results. Conservative and Labour supporters both scored above the national average overall, while Remain voters were among the highest-scoring groups and Leave voters scored below average.
Nyakundi Report notes that the survey was first asked in 1983 and has tracked public trust in professions ever since. Business Today, the source publication, says it started in 2012.
