Americans Doubt Honesty in Business, Poll Discovers

Most Americans give low or merely average marks to the level of honesty and ethical standards in business, according to a “Nightly Business Report”/Reuters poll conducted by the Gallup organization.

Of the 1,007 persons polled, a mere 1% called business ethics “very high,” while 12% said they believed that ethics were “high.” Fifty-four percent gave an average rating, and 29% said ethics were “low” or “very low.”

Fifty-four percent of Americans with household incomes in excess of $50,000 say the recent scandals in financial markets have affected their faith, with 24% saying their confidence has been “severely” shaken.

But Americans are sharply divided over whether the government should play a bigger role in regulating financial markets.

While 45% said they think that the industries should do their own housecleaning, 44% want to see the government play an expanded role in overseeing the markets.

Much attention has been focused on the recent scandal in Chicago’s commodity markets, but only 11% of those polled said they would expect commodities to be most likely affected by fraud. Stocks and bonds ranked No. 1, with 29%, while 20% expected problems in real estate and 16% in government securities.

The survey was conducted Oct. 27-29, just two weeks after the Oct. 13 market fall that took the Dow industrials 191 points lower.

Results of the poll were announced Tuesday on the “Nightly Business Report,” which is produced by Miami public television station WPBT in association with Reuters.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.