When the survey was last carried out in 2009, 45% of respondents said they trusted pollsters. That has fallen to 39% this year – putting pollsters ahead of bankers, journalists, politicians, trade union officials and government ministers, but below priests, the police, social workers, scientists and judges.

Doctors again topped the list of the most trusted professions, with a trust level of 88%, while ‘politicians generally’ came last with a score of 14%.

Ipsos Moris chief executive Ben Page said: “Politicians continue to have the lowest level of public trust, well below that of bankers. However, we have never trusted politicians much. Despite media controversy about a collapse in trust, the public trust each other as much as they always have, and doctors remain the most trusted profession of all – as they have since we began the study in 1983.”