Leadership

Harris Poll: Is Your Industry Loved or Loathed?

By Jessica Stillman

Updated on: August 7, 2008 / 12:18 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

The Find: An annual poll reveals which industries are rising in public esteem and which are tanking.
The Source: The Harris Poll's annual survey of public attitudes to twenty industries.

The Takeaway: Every year Harris asks 1,000 American adults for their views on whether twenty industries do a good or bad job serving customers. Those with the worst reputation are none too surprising: tobacco and oil companies consistently score far lower than any other industries. Managed care and health insurance aren't too popular either. Other low scorers include:

Cable companies
Pharmaceuticals
Airlines

The three industries to experience the most precipitous falls in consumer esteem are: oil companies, airlines and pharmaceutical companies. Again, not surprising given consumers pain at the gas pumps and airport.

Perhaps more surprising is which industry takes the crown as most esteemed: supermarkets. Apparently everyone loves the source of their snack food of choice. Search engines, hardware and software makers and, perhaps also surprisingly, hospitals also receive good marks, though search engines declined slightly since last year.

The Question: What industry do you feel has been unfairly given a bad rap? Oil executives, pharma insiders and airline bosses defend yourselves!

(Image of a man enjoying his supermarket by Joe Shlabotnik, CC 2.0)