How America’s CEOs Have Shifted to the Left
The political views of American CEOs have shifted to the left over the past two decades, with the median US CEO now a political moderate.
That’s one of the findings in a new piece of research published by political scientist Reilly Steel, who is also a lecturer at Columbia Law School.
And the senior managers who report to America’s CEOs lean even more firmly on the left.
This change in the political outlook of senior managers has partly driven the rise in corporate social activism.
Historically, America’s CEOs have overwhelmingly voted Republican.
A 2019 snapshot of US CEO political sentiment by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that 58% of CEOs donated to Republicans, while only 19% donated to Democrats.
How times have changed.
Using data on millions of political donations made by tens of thousands of US executives, board members and senior managers since 2001, Steel finds that the median US CEO is no longer moderately conservative.
Steel analysed the publicly revealed political preferences of 97,469 corporate directors and executives at 9,005 different US companies.
Clearly, the US corporate is not immune to the broader political realignment of recent decades, which has seen a shift from the rich supporting the Republican Party to the college-educated backing progressives, even to the left of the Democrat Party, such as Bernie Sanders.
Cynical heat shield
Of course, the cynical view would be that corporate social activism and ESG initiatives are a heat shield, virtue signalling to consumers and regulators as a way to stave off regulation.
Yet Steel’s research indicates that the leftward shift in corporate culture and behaviour is actually sincere, reflecting the conscience of senior management, rather than any cynical strategic ploy.
“Overall, this transformation has profound implications for American politics, as the individuals comprising one of the most powerful interest groups — corporate elites — appear to be fracturing ideologically and to some degree even switching sides,” Steel wrote.
Rise of woke activism
And, if in a general way, the median of CEOs are moving to the soft-left middle - reflecting wider society with the rise of “woke” activism - then, depressingly, some CEOs are moving to more extreme ends of the spectrum.
Elon Musk’s tubthumping for President Trump shows that the leftward shift for most American CEOs is not an inevitability.
According to Yale Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, not a single Fortune 100 CEO has donated to Trump’s 2024 campaign. This lack of support from Fortune 100 CEOs contrasts sharply with previous Republican candidates, who historically received backing from America’s business leaders.
The reason why reflects the leftward shift in corporate culture itself, with CEOs nervous about the reaction from workers, consumers and shareholders if they publicly come out for such a divisive figure as Trump.
They also worry about Trump’s stance on issues such as the rule of law, protectionism and high tariffs.
Business luminaries
On the other hand, many current and former US CEOs have publicly endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris for president.
Over 88 business leaders signed a letter endorsing Harris, stating she represented a stronger option for the US economy and democracy. They included Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppleman and Lazard CEO Peter Orszag.
Other business luminaries who have come out for Harris include former 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
******
Make sure you check out the latest edition of Business Chief, the monthly digital magazine for CEOs of multinational companies
******
Business Chief is a BizClik brand