Agents more trusted than politicians - but less trusted than almost anyone else

Estate agents and journalists don’t always have a lot in common but in a new opinion poll they rank side-by-side in a league table of professions trusted by the public. Oh, and they are both pretty close to the bottom.

The good news - well, good-ish news - is that both professions are a little more trusted than politicians including government ministers.

The findings come in new polling by Ipsos MORI shows that politicians remain the profession least trusted by the British public, below estate agents and journalists, and then bankers.

Just 21 per cent of Britons trust politicians to tell the truth compared with 25 per cent trusting journalists and estate agents. By contrast a (perhaps surprising) 42 per cent trust builders. 

Despite this, the picture for politicians has improved since last year, when just 16 per cent of the public trusted them to tell the truth.

This same question in what Ipsos MORI calls its Veracity Index has been asked consistently since 1983, making it the longest-running poll on trust in key professions in the UK. 

Public trust in politicians has always been low: at no point since 1983 have more than a quarter of the public ever trusted politicians to tell the truth. The lowest trust score was recorded in 2009 in the wake of the expenses scandal, when only 13 per cent said they trusted politicians.

The Veracity Index, which you can see here, lists doctors as the most trusted profession with 89 per cent of the public believing them. Other key public service professions are also highly trusted, including teachers (86 per cent), judges (80 per cent) and the police (68 per cent). Scientists are on 79 per cent.

Public trust in the clergy continues to fall; they are now the eighth-most trusted profession, with 67 per cent believing them. In 1983 the figure was 85 per cent.