Post-Election, Nearly 2 in 3 Americans Want Companies to Stay Out of Politics

After a polarizing presidential election, a rare consensus has emerged in the American political universe — and it’s in relation to how companies should respond to the results and involve themselves in the forthcoming Trump administration.

A new Morning Consult survey conducted just after the election was called reveals that a clear majority of Americans of every age, gender and party affiliation think companies should take either neutral or no action at all in response to the election. More partisan displays of political engagement — like commenting positively or negatively on the outcome of the race — are decidedly less popular. 

What Americans are looking for from companies after the election

Seven in 10 U.S. adults said companies should call for a peaceful transition of power and nearly 2 in 3 (64%) said they should speak out against political violence. That said, an equal share (64%) want companies to remove themselves from all political discourse. 

Other non-partisan initiatives like acknowledging the validity of the election results are also supported by a majority of Americans. 

However, the public opinion picture looks different for explicitly partisan actions. Notably lower shares of U.S. adults want brands to offer commentary of any kind — positive or negative — on the election results.

When asked another question about how corporate CEOs should attempt to influence the new Trump administration, U.S. adults’ responses followed a similar pattern. Condemning any instances of political violence (46%) was the most popular tested action, while more involved moves like sitting on a presidential advisory committee garnered almost half as much support (25%).

Collectively, these findings mirror our September research on what Americans expected from brands ahead of the election: Pre-election, internal activations, such as offering employees time to vote, were much more popular than external ones, like donating to a specific political candidate. They also mirror broader research conducted earlier this year on corporate involvement in an election cycle, which found that consumers strongly prefer companies focus on keeping their own house in order instead of engaging in public advocacy. 

That said, employed U.S. adults have slightly less definitive post-election expectations than the general population. 

What workers are looking for from their employers after the election

We prompted employed U.S. adults with several potential actions their company could take in response to the 2024 presidential election and asked whether they should or should not pursue each effort. No action received support from a majority, but building out diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives (48%) did come close. 

For all other tested actions, though, pluralities of this demographic reported that they “would be okay” with whatever decision their company made. (There was some party-line variance among Democrat and Republican-identifying employed adults, with the former being more supportive of things like DEI efforts and the latter being more supportive of vocally championing the new president.)

This overall ambivalence is likely, at least in part, a function of election cycle fatigue. As time goes on and the new administration gets underway, employers should expect these opinions to change.

And while nearly 2 in 5 (39%) employed U.S. adults want their companies to discourage talk of politics in the workplace, the uniquely divisive nature of Donald Trump means that employers should still be prepared for political conversations to occur. 

Of course, these discussions are ripe for escalation and have the potential to negatively impact employees’ feelings of satisfaction, engagement and even safety. To mitigate this, brands should consider providing clear guidance around what appropriate and respectful political discourse looks like — or offer tools for employees to signal to coworkers whether they are open to these kinds of interactions.