Public support for CEOs who speak out on social issues

In 2018 Stanford first asked Americans whether the CEO of a large company should use their position to speak out on social or political issues the CEO personally cares about. Back then, 65 per cent said yes. In the summer of 2026 Larcker, Seru and Tayan put the same question to 2,807 Americans, weighted by age, income and region, and arrived at 55 per cent. The decline is across the board: among Democrats from 72 to 65 per cent, among Republicans from 57 to 48, and among independents from 65 to 51. Millennials fell from 71 to 59 per cent, Generation X from 63 to 46. Only Generation Z, too young to take part in 2018, backs it, at 70 per cent. Support actually rises when the issue directly affects the company or its employees: 76 per cent, against 72 per cent in 2018. The environment is still acceptable territory; political questions and contested social issues less and less so.

The costs and benefits are lopsided. Of those surveyed, 62 per cent can name unprompted a product they use less because of a stance taken by the company or its CEO; in 2018 it was 35 per cent. Forty per cent name a product they have started using more, against 20 per cent in 2018. Willingness to buy less from a CEO with an unwelcome opinion rose by 14 points, willingness to buy more by 3. Larcker told Fortune that people are tired of politics in their daily lives and no longer want to hear it from the companies they deal with.

Gallup finds the same direction with a different question. In May 2026, 47 per cent of 3,270 American adults said businesses should take a public stance on current events, against 51 per cent in 2025 and 48 per cent in 2022. Among Democrats it fell by nine points in a single year. Of those in work, 56 per cent say their employer need not send them its views, a majority for the second year running. The boardroom had already gone quiet: in a survey by Corporate Board Member, Diligent and FTI Consulting of just over two hundred US board directors, 85 per cent see more risk in speaking than in staying silent, and 18 per cent want the board to encourage management to speak out. Nine per cent say their CEO has ever done so on the company’s behalf. Edelman, meanwhile, finds that seven in ten people worldwide hesitate to trust someone with different values, and points to the employer as the place where that trust can still be built.

How solid is the evidence? Moderately. Two series point the same way, Stanford from 2018 to 2026 and Gallup from 2022 to 2026, and the board directors confirm it from the other side. All the evidence is American. Until a European measurement is added, this is something to watch rather than a given to build on.