Gallup: Americans Rank Restaurants and Computers as Top Industries | 2016

---

Each August, the research company Gallup surveys American perceptions of major industries (including the federal government). The top-scoring industries for the past 16 years - restaurants and computers - are both competitive ones that offer Americans enjoyment and efficiency while not stirring up major political controversies, according to Gallup. Observation: Restaurants are among the most visible category of Main Street small businesses while computers are among the largest companies in the world. This indicates that American consumers rank their perceptions of major industries on factors related to a wide range of factors, not just size.

---

Top-ranked U.S. industries (positive perception)

At a time of persistently low public trust in the federal government, it is encouraging that Americans tend to view most of the 25 major U.S. business and industry sectors positively. Further, 10 of these - ranging from some of the nation's oldest to some of its newest industries - enjoy solidly positive ratings.

	Total positive	Neutral	Total negative	Net positive
	%	%	%	pct. pts.
Restaurant industry	66	27	7	59
Computer industry	66	19	13	53
Grocery industry	54	28	18	36
Farming and agriculture	55	23	20	35
Accounting	45	40	12	33
Travel industry	48	33	16	32
Internet industry	53	21	24	29
Automobile industry	50	26	23	27
Retail industry	49	26	23	26
Real estate industry	44	31	21	23

Mid-ranked U.S. industries (positive to neutral perception)

Americans view another 10 industries no worse than neutrally, but in most cases net-positively. The telephone and airline industries lead this group, and it includes several entertainment and communication-related arenas: sports, movies, television and radio, publishing and advertising. Electric and gas utilities, education and banking also make this list.

	Total positive	Neutral	Total negative	Net positive
	%	%	%	pct. pts.
Telephone industry	42	31	27	15
Airline industry	41	30	26	15
Sports industry	41	31	27	14
Publishing industry	39	32	27	12
Movie industry	42	24	32	10
Electric and gas utilities	42	23	33	9
Education	44	17	38	6
Television and radio	40	23	38	2
Banking	38	23	36	2
Advertising and public relations	35	27	35	0

---

Bottom-ranked U.S. business sectors (negative perception)

The bottom five industries are all reviewed more negatively than positively, with three - the federal government, pharmaceuticals and healthcare - receiving negative ratings from more than half of the public. The legal field plus oil and gas have just slightly higher negative than positive ratings. While fairly typical for the legal field, this represents a significantly improved positioning for the oil and gas industry, which had skewed strongly negative from 2004 through 2014.

	Total positive	Neutral	Total negative	Net positive
	%	%	%	pct. pts.
Oil and gas industry	37	17	44	-7
The legal field	31	28	39	-8
Healthcare industry	34	12	54	-20
Pharmaceutical industry	28	19	51	-23
The federal government	28	16	55	-27

VIA | Gallup.com, “Restaurants Again Voted Most Popular U.S. Industry“