Some - Not All - Americans Hate Pharma More Than Ever, Says Gallup Poll

The story came to me via Google Alerts: "People in the US Hate Big Pharma, Study Finds." At first, my reaction was Duh! Nothing to see here, considering all the pushback from physicians and other stakeholders (including patients?) regarding high drug prices.

I clicked through anyway to the story on teleSUR (a Latin American multimedia platform - how does it get included in Google Alerts whereas this blog does not?). Perhaps something was lost in translation - perhaps a better translation would have been the title I'm using for this post. 

In any case, here's the trending data direct from Gallup (here), which surveyed 1,011 U.S. adults in in the first week of August 2015 via telephone:

Click on image for an enlarged view.

IMHO, the saw-tooth trend indicates a love-hate relationship. Last year (2014) pharma gained respect, this year it lost it - but not as much as in most previous years. 

Also, there are some segments of the population that have a positive view of the pharmaceutical industry. Can you guess who?

"Looking at the combined results from the past two years,"notes Gallup, "Republicans give the pharmaceutical industry a +11 net-positive rating, while Democrats rate it at -5."

OK. That's another Duh! But consider this:

"Further muddying the political picture," according to Gallup, "many of the groups most likely to support Democrats hold the most positive views of the pharmaceutical industry, including ratings of:

• +21 from nonwhites
• +7 from those younger than 35
• +3 from urban residents
• +6 from those with annual household incomes less than $50,000"

To which I say Whaaaa?!

Results to Date