From The Wall Street Journal Online

Americans view firefighters and doctors as having the most prestigious professions, according to a recent Harris Interactive poll.

When read a list of different occupations, 63% of respondents to the telephone poll said they feel firefighters have "very great" prestige, while 58% said doctors do. Other professions that were seen as having very great prestige included: nurses (55%), scientists (54%), teachers (52%) and military officers (51%).

The occupations seen by the fewest people as having very great prestige were: real-estate brokers (6%), stockbrokers (11%), business executives (11%), actors (12%), union leaders (12%) and journalists (12%).

Actors were seen by the largest percentage of people (37%) as having "hardly any prestige at all," followed by real-estate brokers at 32%.

Harris Interactive has been asking about the prestige of different professions and occupations since 1977. Over the course of that time, teaching is the only occupation that has seen an increase in prestige, rising 23 percentage points to 52% since 1977.

Lawyers have seen the greatest decrease in very great prestige, down 15 percentage points to 21%. Scientists have slipped 12 percentage points to 54%, and business executives have fallen seven percentage points to 11%.

Here are the results of the latest poll:

"I am going to read off a number of different occupations. For each, would you tell me if you feel it is an occupation of very great prestige, considerable prestige, some prestige or hardly any prestige at all?" (Base: All Adults)

	Very Great Prestige	Considerable Prestige	Some Prestige	Hardly Any Prestige At All	Not Sure/Refused
Firefighter	63%	23%	11%	3%	-
Doctor	58	30	10	1	1
Nurse	55	24	17	4	-
Scientist	54	26	15	4	*
Teacher	52	22	20	6	*
Military officer	51	30	16	3	1
Police officer	43	26	26	4	1
Priest/Minister/Clergyman	40	28	24	7	1
Farmer	36	21	26	15	1
Engineer	34	35	26	4	1
Member of Congress	28	23	31	17	1
Architect	27	24	33	19	1
Athlete	23	24	33	19	1
Lawyer	21	23	36	20	*
Entertainer	18	23	37	22	*
Accountant	17	30	40	11	1
Banker	17	29	43	11	1
Journalist	16	27	41	16	*
Union Leader	12	21	38	25	3
Actor	12	13	37	37	1
Business executive	11	30	43	15	1
Stockbroker	11	25	42	22	1
Real estate agent/broker	6	17	44	32	1

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"I am going to read off a number of different occupations. For each, would you tell me if you feel it is an occupation of very great prestige, considerable prestige, some prestige or hardly any prestige at all?" (Base: All Adults)

	1977	1982	1992	1997	1998	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	Changes since 1977
Firefighter***	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	55%	48%	56%	63%	NA
Doctor	61	55	50	52	61	61	61	50	52	52	54	58	-3
Nurse	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	47	44	50	55	NA
Scientist	66	59	57	51	55	56	53	51	57	52	56	54	-12
Teacher	29	28	41	49	53	53	54	47	49	48	47	52	+23
Military officer	NA	22	32	29	34	42	40	47	46	47	49	51	NA
Police Officer **	NA	NA	34	36	41	38	37	40	42	40	40	43	NA
Priest/Minister/ Clergyman	41	42	38	45	46	45	43	36	38	32	36	40	-1
Farmer	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	36	NA
Engineer	34	30	37	32	34	32	36	34	28	29	34	34	0
Member of Congress	NA	NA	24	23	25	33	24	27	30	31	26	28	NA
Architect	NA	NA	NA	NA	26	26	28	27	24	20	27	27	NA
Athlete	26	20	18	21	20	21	22	21	17	21	23	23	-3
Lawyer	36	30	25	19	23	21	18	15	17	17	18	21	-15
Entertainer	18	16	17	18	19	21	20	19	17	16	18	18	0
Accountant	NA	13	14	18	17	14	15	13	15	10	13	17	NA
Banker	17	17	17	15	18	15	16	15	14	15	15	17	0
Journalist	17	16	15	15	15	16	18	19	15	14	14	16	-1
Union leader	NA	NA	12	14	16	16	17	14	15	16	15	12	NA
Actor	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	13	16	16	12	NA
Business executive**	18	16	19	16	18	15	12	18	18	19	15	11	-7
Stockbroker	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	8	10	8	11	NA
Real estate broker/agent	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	6	5	9	6	NA

* No trend; NA not asked

** In surveys prior to 2001 we used the words "policeman" (now changed to "police officer") and businessman (now changed to "business executive") which may account for the changes from 2001 to 2002.

*** In surveys prior to 2006, we used the word "fireman" (now changed to firefighter) which may account for some of the changes from 2005 to 2006.

Methodology: This survey was conducted by telephone in the U.S., July 5-11, 2006 among a nationwide cross sections of 1,020 adults. Figures for age, sex, race, education, and region were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population. In theory, with probability samples of these sizes, one could say with 95% certainty that the results have a statistical precision of +/-3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire U.S. population had been polled with complete accuracy.