But what is even more revealing is what these polling results show about how CEOs are thinking about politics. While some of the top line results have been previously covered byAcross a group of CEOs that had no discernible partisan leaning the polling revealed that 80% of CEOs surveyed 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 this same “who do you expect to win” question of our Yale CEO Caucus every presidential election year over the last several cycles. While our straw poll in both prior presidential elections, in 2016 and 2020, revealed CEOs were expecting Trump to lose both times, the margin was far less than 80-20.
What our polling results also revealed is that most business leaders, across parties, are by and large horrified by Trump’s leadership model and his incendiary rhetoric. Fully 87% of our respondents believe Trump should apologize for false statements about Haitian immigrants in Ohio abducting and eating pets, and 94% of respondents believe hate speech is inciting increasing political violence.
The polling data also reaffirmed CEOs’ substantive disagreement with Trump’s proposed economic policy platform, with several expressing concerns that Trump would undermine Fed independence while pitting business leaders against each other and reigniting inflationary pressures. In particular, CEOs expressed nuanced opposition to Trump’s proposed universal 10% tariffs. While 56% of CEOs believe we need to protect vital U.S.
CEOs expressed their opposition to not only protectionism but also isolationism. Several CEOs reiterated their beliefs that access to global markets and free trade depend on the U.S. being a reliable, trustworthy participant in the international community, and the need to continue supporting Ukraine in its fight for freedom.