The numbers revealed that 43% of those surveyed had negative views of the "Big Pharma" while just 35% had positive views. Negative views increased while positive views decreased from reported responses to the same questions last year.
"This leaves the industry with a negative net-positive rating of -8 in 2015," explained Gallup's Jim Norman.
Norman added that the pharmaceutical industry is "now rated one of the worst industries." "The slide in net-positive ratings for the pharmaceutical industry, from +4 to -8, places it among the lowest-rated industries, which include the legal field (-5), the healthcare industry (-6), the oil and gas industry (-13) and the federal government, which comes in dead last (-29)," he said.
Some of the sectors that enjoyed more positive views were the technology, restaurant, and accounting industries.
According to Gallup, the pharmaceutical industry's decline began in the early 90s.
"As far back as 1991, 73 percent of Americans said they considered the high cost of prescription drugs an important reason for rising healthcare costs," Norman said.
Like many of the business issues we face today, the problem with the drug industry is that it is controlled by a government-protected corporate cartel. This allows a select few mega-corporations to dominate the market and prevents entrepreneurs from developing new products that could threaten this monopoly.
Without having to worry about any kind of competition, the operators of this cartel can make their products as harmful and ineffective as they like. Thanks to government protections, corrupt pharmaceutical companies are able to make their products more addictive and less effective so they can create return customers and extend their profits. After all, if a medication is effective at curing a patient, they won't continually use and purchase that drug. However, even if the drug is mediocre — but has addictive properties — it will become a regular part of the patient's monthly budget.
Because of the pharmaceutical companies' stranglehold on government and the government's willing collusion, pharmaceutical giants have been able to abuse American consumers and patients for decades. These disreputable practices, however, are not without consequence — as the new Gallup poll incontrovertibly demonstrates.
Comment: Listen to this episode of the Health and Wellness Show to learn more about why Big Pharma is so hated.