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Poll: Nurses seen as most honest, ethical

PRINCETON, N.J., Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Nurses enjoy the public's praise while bankers earn the public's scorn in Gallup's annual Honest and Ethics survey of U.S. professions.

Nurses, whom 84 percent of those polled said were honest and had high ethical standards, topped Gallup's Honesty and Ethics ranking every year except one since being added to the list in 1999, Gallup said Monday.

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Standings for most of the professions surveyed in 2008 is similar to that of a year ago, pollsters said. The only significant change was a drop in positive ratings for bankers, down from 35 percent to 23 percent. Gallup said the decline wasn't surprising, given the banking industry prominence in the U.S. economic downturn.

Nurses were followed by pharmacists, high school teachers and medical doctors, all with nearly two-thirds of Americans asked rating them highly for honesty and ethics, Gallup said.

Building contractors, bankers, journalists and real estate agents received neutral ratings, results indicate.

Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews Nov. 7-9 with 1,010 adults. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.

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