How bad are the reputations of America’s largest banks? About that of a corpse.

 

In the latest survey of almost 13,000 people by Harris Interactive, which assesses the public’s take on different industries, AIG, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America received scores that were on par with those of Enron, Adelphia and WorldCom before they went out of business.

 

In general, the three companies on the “critical” list suffer from the perception that they and their industries are part of the problem that’s ailing the country, according to Harris Interactive. Other companies that scored poorly among the 60 to which Harris assigned a score were BP, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and News Corp.

 

At the other end of the ratings is Apple, which garnered not only the highest score among all companies now, but the highest score ever recorded in the survey’s 13-year history. Google, although dislodged from first place, was still rated second best, with Coca-Cola and Amazon close behind.

 

Only 22% of Americans have a positive perception of corporations in general.

 

The industries with the best reputations are technology, travel and tourism, retail and consumer products. The industries with the worst reputations are government, tobacco, banking and financial services.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

The 2012 Harris Poll Annual RQ® Public Summary Report (Harris Interactive) (pdf)

Bank of America Wins Worst Bank Title; Credit Unions Customers Most Satisfied (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Bank of America and Citigroup Lead Title Race for Banks with Most Fraud Violations (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)