Big Pharma Sinks to the Bottom of U.S.Industry Rankings
by JUSTIN MCCARTHY
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The pharmaceutical industry is now the most poorly regarded industry in Americans’ eyes, ranking last on a list of 25 industries that Gallup tests annually. Americans are more than twice as likely to rate the pharmaceutical industry negatively (58%) as positively (27%), giving it a net-positive score of -31.
The pharmaceutical industry has unseated the federal government as the lowest-rated industry this year, in terms of its net-positive score; the government has been last or tied for last from 2011 through 2018. The pharmaceutical industry’s negative ratings also exceed its positive ratings by double digits, while the advertising and public relations industry’s net rating is barely negative.
Americans continue to give their highest ratings to the restaurant and computer industries, while the grocery industry and agriculture and farming also rank near the top of the list, with net-positive ratings that are better than +40.
Other industries that rank among the top half of the list include travel, accounting, automobile, retail, real estate, banking, electric and gas utilities, and sports.
As to the rest of the list, the industries of airlines, telephone, publishing, internet, movie and education each receive net-positive scores in the double digits. Meanwhile, the television and radio industry, the legal field, and the oil and gas industry barely register net-positive scores.
A New Low for the Pharmaceutical Industry’s Image
Americans’ net ratings for the pharmaceutical industry have never been lower since Gallup first polled on industries in 2001. Over the past 19 years, few industries have been rated lower than the pharmaceutical industry’s current -31 net rating. These include the federal government and the oil and gas, real estate, and automobile industries.
The new low in the pharmaceutical industry’s U.S. image comes amid a range of criticisms of industry norms, from generating the highest drug costs in the world to spending massive amounts in lobbying politicians to the industry’s role in the U.S. opioid crisis. Several Democratic candidates have called out the industry in their party’s presidential debates.
Just after Gallup conducted this poll, an Oklahoma judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for its role in the state’s opioid epidemic. Meanwhile, legislators on Capitol Hill are working to rein in the industry’s drug prices.
Overcome illness naturally, and live a long, healthful life.
TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR HEALTH AND ESCAPE THE SICKNESS INDUSTRY
TOOLBOX lign: center;”>
Overcome illness naturally, and live a long, healthful life.
TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR HEALTH AND ESCAPE THE SICKNESS INDUSTRY