Professions Americans do and don’t trust

Doctors, scientists, and teachers.

Across 31 countries, these professions earn the most trust, according to the seventh edition of the Ipsos Global Trustworthiness Index.

In the U.S., the story is similar, with some key American differences.

Below are five charts on which professions earn the most trust from Americans, which professions earn the least, and how Americans feel about the ordinary American.

1. Most trusted professions. Teachers, doctors, scientists, and soldiers. Unsurprisingly, these are the professions trusted most by Americans. However, it is notable that these are the only four out of all professions tested that are trusted by a majority of Americans.

2. Least trusted professions. Also coming as no surprise, politicians rank dead last in trust among Americans. Although “AI chatbot” isn’t necessarily a profession (yet?), they too have very low trust.

3. Partisan divides. Some of the most trusted professions are also the most divisive. Key examples: Republicans are more trusting of the police and members of the armed forces, while Democrats are more trusting of scientist and teachers.

4. Who Americans trust more and less than the globe. Compared to a 31-country average, Americans are less trustful of tech entrepreneurs (and AI chatbots). Indeed, this aligns with previous Ipsos polling showing that Americans tend to have less trust in AI compared to citizens other nations.

5. Americans haven’t lost trust in the ordinary person. Although being an ordinary man or woman doesn’t automatically earn you trust, Americans haven’t lost trust in the average American.

Trust in America is concentrated in a few places: Teachers, doctors, scientists, and soldiers are the only professions a majority of Americans trust, and even they split along party lines. At the other end, politicians rank last. But importantly, Americans still have faith in the ordinary person.