For the first time in the history of Gallup’s survey, fewer than a third of Americans trust pastors’ honesty and ethical standards.
By Aaron Earls
When pastors speak with people in their communities, they may have to overcome an initial distrust. Gallup’s 2023 Honesty and Ethics poll found the ratings of nearly all professions measured to be lower than in recent years. And a few, including pastors, reached historic lows.
Trust in clergy fell for the fourth consecutive year, dipping to 32%, down from 34% last year. The percentage who say pastors have high or very high levels of honesty and ethics dropped below a third of Americans for the first time in the history of Gallup’s survey.
Less than half (45%) believe pastors have average honesty and ethical standards, while 1 in 5 (20%) say those standards are low or very low.
Despite the significant decline, pastors still rank in the middle of the pack among the professions surveyed, due in part to the falling trust across the board. Of the 22 professions evaluated in both 2019 and 2023, 21 have lower levels of American adults who say people in those professions have high or very high honesty and ethical standards.
Currently, those in the field of medicine are the most trusted. Nurses (78%) are the profession most likely to be trusted, followed by veterinarians (65%), engineers (60%), dentists (59%), medical doctors (56%), and pharmacists (55%). Less trusted roles include police officers (45%), college teachers (42%), psychiatrists (36%), chiropractors (33%), and clergy (32%).
Pastors rank higher than 12 other professions included in the 2023 poll, including labor union leaders (25%), journalists (19%), business executives (12%), senators (8%), and members of Congress (6%), the lowest ranked profession.
Historic decline
Previously, a broad majority of the U.S. held pastors in the highest regard. In 1985, 67% of Americans rated pastors as high or very high in honesty and ethics. After falling somewhat in the late 1980s, the ratings of pastors remained clearly above 50% for the 90s, even rising back to 64% in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001.
In early 2002, however, The Boston Globe reported on the sex abuse scandal involving Roman Catholic priests and subsequent coverups. In the following years, additional sex abuse reports in other denominations and Christian groups were exposed. The public perception of pastors began to sour.
The last time a majority of Americans believed clergy had high or very high honesty and ethical standards was in 2012. With the exception of 2019, the rating of pastors has declined every year since 2012. The last three years have each been the lowest rating to that point.
In addition to pastors, pharmacists (55%), journalists (16%), senators (8%), and members of Congress (6%) hit record lows in 2023.
Current circumstance
Under the general heightened distrust, some demographic groups have less trust of pastors than others.
Women (31%) are less likely than men (34%) to highly rate the trustworthiness of pastors. Non-white Americans (25%) have less trust of clergy than white Americans (37%). Political independents (26%) view pastors’ honesty less favorably than either Democrats (36%) or Republicans (38%).
Generally speaking, pastors have more trust barriers with lower-income Americans and those with less formal education. Pastors in those contexts may have to work harder to build relational trust as they will be faced with inherent skepticism.
Generally speaking, pastors have more trust barriers with lower-income Americans and those with less formal education. Share on XLess than a quarter of those with a high school diploma or less (24%) say pastors have high or very high honesty. The same percentage (24%) say they have low or very low levels. Those with some college (34%) or college graduates (39%) are more likely to give pastors higher grades for their ethics.
Meanwhile, those who have a household income of less than $50,000 are slightly less likely to say pastors have high or very high levels of honesty (25%) than they are to rate pastors low or very low (26%). Those with more income are more likely to believe pastors are trustworthy, including those with $50,000 to $100,000 annual household income (31%) and those making more than $100,000 (43%).
Generational trust
Trust among the different generations paints a more complicated picture. As it has been in recent years, older Americans are the most likely to see pastors as trustworthy, though that number is also falling. In 2022, 38% of those 55 and older rate pastors as high or very high on their honesty and ethics, down from 46% in 2022.
Middle-aged adults, those 35 to 54 years old, fell from 30% in 2022 to 24% in 2023. Among young adults, however, there was a significant jump from 20% in 2022 to 30% in 2023.
There have been other one-year increases among age demographics in recent years, but this marks the first increase among young adults in at least the past five years and the largest jump in any age group during that time. There is no way to establish if the increased trust rating among young adults is a trend, but it is something to mark and watch moving forward.
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