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Navigating the Trump Era: Corporate Engagement in 2025
Report summary
The most polarizing president of modern U.S. history is back and making even bigger waves than in his first stint in the White House.
Using research dating back to 2019, this report breaks down how his return has and hasn’t changed what Americans want from their leading companies and CEOs, and how business leaders should plan to engage on the most pressing issues of the day.
In this report we explain:
- Which Americans have the most trust in corporations, and how the demand for corporate engagement in politics has changed in recent years.
- How 2025’s consumer activists compare to last year’s, and the overlap between boycotters and so-called buycotters.
- The traits that consumers look to when evaluating the companies they patronize, and how that factors into strategic messaging around engagement on societal issues.
- Shifting attitudes on traditional corporate advocacy and the business community's relationship with the federal government.
Data Downloads
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Methodology
Data for this report comes from surveys conducted: August 2019; September 2020; December 2022; June, September and October 2023; March and April 2024; and March and April 2025. All surveys were conducted among representative samples of roughly 2,200 U.S. adults, with margins of error of +/-2 to +/-3 percentage points, respectively.
About the authors
Cameron Easley is Morning Consult’s head of U.S. Political Analysis. He has led Morning Consult's coverage of U.S. politics and elections since 2016, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Politico, Axios, FiveThirtyEight and on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. Cameron joined Morning Consult from Roll Call, where he was managing editor. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Follow him on Twitter @cameron_easley. Interested in connecting with Cameron to discuss his analysis or for a media engagement or speaking opportunity? Email [email protected].
Eli Yokley is Morning Consult’s U.S. politics analyst. Eli joined Morning Consult in 2016 from Roll Call, where he reported on House and Senate campaigns after five years of covering state-level politics in the Show Me State while studying at the University of Missouri in Columbia, including contributions to The New York Times, Politico and The Daily Beast. Follow him on Twitter @eyokley. Interested in connecting with Eli to discuss his analysis or for a media engagement or speaking opportunity? Email [email protected].