March 23, 2005

Politicians still struggling for trust of public: survey

MONTREAL

Politicians and automobile vendors continued to fare poorly in a poll of the most admired professions, while firefighters, nurses and farmers still were among the most trusted.

The Leger Marketing poll conducted March 1-8 suggested that 16 per cent of Canadians trusted politicians, two percentage points higher than their level in a similar poll a year ago.

Car salespeople were trusted by 18 per cent, one point down from last year.

Firefighters equaled last year’s 97 per cent, while nurses (94), farmers (91), doctors (89) and teachers (88) rounded out this year’s top five.

The poll of 1,500 Canadians is considered accurate within 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Regionally, the percentage of respondents who trusted politicians was: the Atlantic provinces, 19; Ontario, 17; Quebec and British Columbia, 16; Alberta 13; and Manitoba and Saskatchewan, 12.

The margin of error for the regional samples is higher.

The survey also suggested that trust for three professions has dropped by at least 10 percentage points since Leger began conducting the annual survey in 2002.

They are notaries (to 71 per cent from 82), senior public servants (to 45 from 56) and publicists (to 37 from 47).

Lawyers weren’t far off the pace, slipping to 45 per cent from 54 per cent in 2002.

The Canadian Press

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