Why business support for Harris-Walz is growing

TThat week, Vice President Kamala Harris explicitly reached out to business leaders with a major economic speech in Pittsburgh — and new polling results show growing support for the Harris-Walz slate among CEOs.

As we’ve previously written for TIME, data from a survey of about 60 top CEOs attending our Yale CEO Caucus this month reveals that business leaders are increasingly optimistic about the ‘economy.

But what’s even more telling is what these survey results reveal about how CEOs think about politics. Although some of the best results have already been covered by the New York Times and CNN, among others, we are revealing here, for the first time, all the results.

Among a group of CEOs who had no discernible partisan leanings (37% of our respondents identified as Republicans, 32% as Democrats, and 32% as independents), the poll found that 80% of CEOs surveyed s ‘expect Harris to win, and only 20% expect former President Donald Trump to win.

This is the most lopsided vote we’ve ever had, after informally asking the same “who do you hope to win” question to our Yale CEO caucus every presidential election year for the past few cycles. While our opinion polling in the previous two presidential elections, in 2016 and 2020, found that CEOs expected Trump to lose each time, the margin was much smaller than 80-20.

Learn more: Kamala Harris has rolled out an ambitious economic plan. Here’s what’s inside

Additionally, while CEOs expected Trump to lose every time he ran for office, this marked a significant break from CEOs’ long-standing bias toward Republicans, making predictions for Harris all the more remarkable. Previously, CEOs expected George W. Bush to win both times he was on the ballot, and CEOs slightly favored Mitt Romney’s chances over incumbent President Barack Obama in 2012.

What our polling results also revealed is that most business leaders, across party lines, are by and large horrified by Trump’s leadership model and his incendiary rhetoric. 87% of respondents think Trump should apologize for false claims that Haitian immigrants in Ohio kidnapped and ate pets, and 94% of respondents think hate speech incites violence growing politics. Additionally, to the question “do either candidate pose a threat to democracy?” “, 73% of respondents chose Trump, while 4% chose Harris, 8% said both, and 15% said neither.

The poll data also reaffirmed CEOs’ substantial disagreement with Trump’s proposed economic policy agenda, with several expressing concerns that Trump would undermine the Fed’s independence while pitting business leaders against each other. against others and by reviving inflationary pressures. In particular, CEOs expressed nuanced opposition to Trump’s proposed 10% universal tariffs. While 56% of CEOs believe we should protect vital U.S. industries from unfair foreign competition through tariffs, they distinguish between protecting against truly unfair foreign competition and imposing tariffs at any time . Some CEOs have also expressed skepticism that tariffs should be an end goal in themselves, believing that the threat of tariffs is far more effective than the reality.

CEOs have expressed opposition not only to protectionism but also to isolationism. Several CEOs reiterated their belief that access to global markets and free trade depends on the United States’ ability to be a reliable and trustworthy participant in the international community, as well as the need to continue to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom.

This new polling data from our Yale CEO Caucus, which is consistent with previous reports that none of the top 100 CEOs are supporting Trump this election cycle, reaffirms that the message from corporate America as the presidential election approaches is loud and clear: They overwhelmingly believe Harris is a trustworthy, patriotic, stable leader and constructive problem solver, even if they don’t agree with her on all fronts. CEOs are not isolationists, protectionists, or xenophobics, and they depend on the rule of law and want a president who respects that rule of law. Having seen how Trump’s first term has deepened divisions between businesses, shredding the harmonious fabric of American life, the choice for them is clear.

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