By Charvi Magdaong
FireRescue1 Staff
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Being a firefighter is more prestigious than being a doctor, or even a member of congress, according to the 2006 Harris Interactive poll on the “Most Prestigious Occupations” in the United States.
When asked if an occupation held very great prestige, considerable prestige, some prestige or hardly any prestige at all, 63 percent — the highest percentage on the survey — of adults answered that firefighters held very great prestige.
This is the third time since 2003 when firefighters became a category in the Harris Poll that the profession has either tied or taken the top spot.
Besides firefighters, only five other professions out of 23 from this year’s poll were perceived in the public eye as being very prestigious. Doctors, nurses, scientists, teachers and military officers were all occupations with more than 50 percent of poll-takers responding by saying the profession was very prestigious.
Just missing the cut were police officers and priests. Real estate agents, stockbrokers, and business executives landed in the bottom slots of this year’s survey.
The Harris Poll was conducted by telephone within the United States between July 5 and 11, 2006 among a nationwide cross section of 1,020 adults over the age of 18.