Would you trust...me?

So I came across this poll today about which professions are the most trusted. It is from a couple years back but it certainly makes me smile. 77% of respondents said they would trust a scientist…which ranks only behind doctors and teachers. I have to take it with a grain of salt because we are only three points ahead of the clergy who shouldn’t be trusted with much but we are way above the president and members of congress who shouldn’t be trusted with ANYTHING. I think its also funny that the pollsters put their own profession in the mix and found that only 34% of people trusted them. Does that mean that the other 66% of people were filling out the poll and actively thinking that it was going to be misused. I guess the figured that they didn’t have an option because they trust lawyers even less. I can only assume when people say they don’t trust lawyers they mean other people’s lawyers and not their own. The other category I like is, “ordinary man or woman.” What is that? Was it a major I missed in college. Can I grow up to be one of those or am I too far gone. They are trusted more than bankers which I think means that if you are an ordinary man or woman than you have a higher chance of someone giving you their money to hold on to for a while (this survey was in 2006…before the major crisis gained national attention). And of course, actors are last…because you just never know when they might be acting. If I was doing the survey I would have two categories here…good actors and bad actors. You can’t trust the good ones but the bad ones are probably OK. What does it all mean? It means that I picked a trustworthy profession and if it doesn’t work out I’m going back to school to be just an “ordinary man” or maybe an “ordinary woman” though that might take more time. Patrick OUT!!!

 

	Would Trust	Would Not	Not Sure/ Refused
	%	%	%
Doctors	85	12	3
Teachers	83	15	2
Scientists	77	19	4
Police officers	76	21	3
Professors	75	19	6
Clergymen or priests	74	22	4
Military officers	72	26	3
Judges	70	24	5
Accountants	68	28	3
Ordinary man or woman	66	26	8
Civil servants	62	32	6
Bankers	62	34	3
The President	48	47	4
TV newscasters	44	51	5
Athletes	43	47	10
Journalists	39	58	3
Members of Congress	35	63	3
Pollsters	34	54	12
Trade union leaders	30	60	10
Stockbrokers	29	63	8
Lawyers	27	68	5
Actors	26	69	5