The Roper "Corporate Reputation Index" mail response survey, conducted in January and February of this year, asked 17,000 Americans to evaluate the reputation of various Fortune 500 industry companies on a scale of 0 to 10.

The survey found consumers ranked Property-Casualty and Life and Health business in higher regard than they have in the past.

P-C companies received a rating this year of 7.1, compared to 6.3 in 2001 and 6.5 in 2000. Life insurance companies were rated at 7 on the survey scale in 2002, compared to 6.1 last year and 6.3 in 2000.

The increases can be attributed to an overall softening in attitude to many industries lead by the impact of 9/11 and "a desire to pull together," on the part of many Americans, suggested John Gilfeather, vice chairman of RoperASW.

He said the softening in attitude is a great opportunity for corporations to build on the good will and improve their standings even further. Should a company instead assume "a business as usual attitude," he said, the result would be the erosion in their reputation.

"A reputation is what drives people to a business," Mr. Gilfeather observed. "People do not want to deal with a company they do not respect. That is why reputation is so important. This may be the most important asset a company has" and the research is designed to measure that asset.

In other findings, the hotel and lodging industry and mortgage finance area did the best with ratings of 7.6. Both were up from last year. Super regional banks were rated at 7.1, an increase from 6.1 last year, and mega-banks received a score of 6.7 compared to 6.4 in 2001 and 2000.

The energy sector saw the biggest drop in its reputation, going from 6.7 in 2001 to 6.1 in 2002.

The survey was conducted as part of FORTUNE's annual "America's Most Admired Companies" study for 2002, which was published in March.