• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 20, 2017

An overwhelming majority (73%) of industry professionals believe the Trump Administration’s White House communications team has negatively impacted public perceptions of the public relations profession. That’s the conclusion of an online survey of 902 PR industry executives conducted by the USC Center for Public Relations at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

“It’s clear from the results of our survey that the PR industry would prefer to distance itself from the current White House communications team, whose practices are not reflective of the values of the broader industry,” Fred Cook, director of USC Annenberg’s Center for Public Relations, states in the report, adding: “The vast majority of PR professionals believe that honest, open communication leads to constructive dialogue and shared understanding, both of which are in short supply these days.”

The report found that 55.3% of the respondents identified themselves as liberal, 29.6% as moderate and 15.1% as conservative. Asked whether the current White House communications team is impacting the image of the PR profession, 77.4% of liberals agreed, along with 77.2% of moderates and 53.9% of conservatives.

While White House communications teams historically are revered as among the most respected and coveted communications positions in the industry, the vast majority of respondents indicated they would be loath to work for the Trump White House (see chart). 

If asked by the current President, the overwhelming majority of PR practitioners said they would not accept jobs in the White House. Only 6% would accept the job of Press Secretary or Deputy Press Secretary. Only 7% would accept the job of Director of Social Media. Of the conservatives polled, 75% said they would not accept an invitation to become Press Secretary.

Data was collected from an online survey distributed to public relations professionals across the United States through email and social media channels between May 30 and June 8.

The process resulted in a convenience sample of 902 qualified responses, representing all 50 states. Sixty-nine percent of the respondents were between the ages of 35 and 64. Fifty-one percent have 20+ years of experience in the communications field. Fifty percent work in public relations or communication agencies; 26% work in public and private corporations; and 16% work in government agencies or nonprofit organizations. About 57% were female and 41% were male, with the remainder not identifying their gender.