As the country’s economic troubles continue, one of the spotlights has been on the troubled banking sector. The question of what did they know and when did they know it has been asked by the American public and the reputation of the industry has slid because of this. Every year, Americans are asked to say what industries they believe should be more regulated by the government and which industries they find most honest and truthful. Needless to say, banks are now seen as needing more regulation and are not seen as trustworthy and honest as they once were.

Between 2003 and 2007, only one in five Americans (17%-21%) believed banks should be more regulated. Last year 36% believed this and this year that number increases to 40%. The larger difference from last year is in how honest and trustworthy banks are. In 2004, two in five Americans (40%) said they would normally believe a statement by a company in the banking industry. Last year just 21% said this and this year that number drops to just 12%.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll® of 2,303 adults surveyed online between November 2 and 11, 2009 by Harris Interactive®.

Industries that should be more regulated

The industries that have the largest numbers of people who believe they should be more regulated are oil companies (47%, down from 53% last year), pharmaceutical and drug companies (47%, down from 49% last year), health insurance companies (45%, down from 49% last year), managed care companies (36%, down from 39%) and tobacco companies (33%, up from 31%).

Looking at the other end of this list, there are four companies that only one in ten Americans or less believe should be more regulated: computer hardware companies (5%, unchanged from last year), supermarkets (5%, down from 6% last year), computer software companies (6%, unchanged from last year) and online retailers (10%, up from 9% last year).

One industry has an even larger gain than banks in the number of U.S. adults who believe it should be more regulated by the government – car manufacturers. Last year, 16% of Americans believed they should be more regulated and this year, it is 21% an increase of 5 points. This is still off the high of 24% who believed car manufacturers should be more regulated between 2003 and 2005.

Industries that are considered trustworthy

Looking at the list of industries, more than two in five Americans (44%, unchanged from the last two years) believe that none of them are generally honest and trustworthy, that they would not normally believe a statement by a company in these industries. Over one-third (36%, up from 30% last year) believe supermarkets are generally honest and trustworthy while 28% say the same about hospitals (down from 31% last year). Computer companies come next in trustworthiness as 23% say they consider hardware companies to be honest and trustworthy while 20% say the same about software companies (up from 17% and 16% respectively).

On the bottom of the list just 3% of Americans would consider tobacco companies to be honest and trustworthy (up from 2% last year), while 5% say the same about oil companies (up from 4% last year) and managed care companies, such as HMOs (unchanged from last year).

So what?

Each year there are those companies that people believe should be more regulated and those that people do not trust. Most of these, such as the managed care companies and oil companies, really don’t change much year over year. But every year, there are also companies that show large movements due to circumstances. That was definitely the case with banks last year and this year they continue to show that movement yet again, leading one to theorize that they still have a great deal of work to do in order regain the trust of the American public.