Public support for corporate activism has dropped significantly since last year, according to polling from the Public Affairs Council and Morning Consult.
The proportion of individuals who want corporations to be involved in advocacy for or against abortion access dropped from 41% to 36%, this year, according to the 2022 and 2023 Public Affairs Pulse Survey. Support for corporate efforts to address racial discrimination similarly dropped 9%, from 66% to 57%, since last year, and the number of people supporting corporate environmental efforts dropped from 68% to 61%, according to the surveys.
“Americans on the far-right and far-left tend to be the two groups that don’t trust business as much,” Public Affairs Council President Doug Pinkham told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “There’s some Republicans who don’t want companies involved because they figure they’ll take a position they don’t agree with and I think on the Democratic side, if you look to the far-left, there’s some who figure if companies are involved in something political they’ll probably screw it up.”
Corporations faced sanctions from conservative consumers this year for engaging in what they perceived to be LGBT activism. Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light lost its spot as America’s best-selling beer after partnering with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney, while Target similarly lost $9 billion in market valuation in the week following a boycott over its Pride merchandise, some of which was marketed toward children.
While 53% of respondents supported corporate advocacy for ending discrimination on the basis of gender identity, that figure is down from 60% the year prior, according to the polls.
Among those surveyed in 2023, 41% supported corporate involvement in advocacy related to the Deferred Access For Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program intended to protect people who were brought into the United States illegally as children from deportation. Only 42% of survey respondents supported advocacy related to expanding voting rights. (RELATED: Conservative Legal Group Sues Target For Allegedly Misleading Investors On Corporate Equity Goals)
Following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision, which removed restrictions on state abortion laws, large corporations like Amazon pledged to provide financial assistance to employees seeking abortions.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – MAY 31: Pride Month merchandise is displayed at a Target store on May 31, 2023 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
While opposition to corporate advocacy grew, survey respondents reported trusting businesses more than either political party. Of survey respondents, 36% reported trusting conservative groups “a lot” or “some” compared to 33% reporting the same for liberal groups
The Public Affairs Council and Morning Consult surveyed 2,219 adults between Sept. 1 and Sept.3 with a margin of error of 2%.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include a statement from Public Affairs Council President Doug Pinkham.
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