The majority of Republican voters do not want the party’s presidential nominee to take on ESG, the hot-button climate-conscious investment strategy that conservatives call “woke capitalism.”
Despite environmental, social and corporate governance investing (ESG) stoking battles over putting climate change and liberal political causes over investment returns, a new poll shows most party voters prefer White House candidates to steer clear.
A New York Times/Siena survey released this week asked GOP voters whether they would prefer a Republican presidential candidate “who promises to fight corporations that promote ‘woke’ left ideology” or a candidate “who says that the government should stay out of deciding what corporations can support.”
The majority of Republican primary voters, 52%, said government should stay out of it vs. 38% who said they want someone who will fight “woke left” ideology.
The results track with polling conducted in March from data and analytics firm Echelon Insights.
Half of Republican primary voters said they agreed “businesses should be able to operate however they like as long as they do not break the law” while 41% said “businesses should be held accountable if they are too focused on being ‘woke.’”
The polls may explain why ESG has not been a major issue on the presidential campaign trail, with only Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy strongly pushing it.
GOP strategists have previously told The Washington Times that the issue is flopping on the campaign stump because talking in acronyms about wonky policy issues rarely persuades voters.
Democrats and green-energy groups push back against efforts to curtail ESG, arguing restrictions on the practice hinder free-market capitalism and that money managers should consider risks outside conventional monetary factors that align with investors’ values, such as climate and diversity policies.
Climate Power, an environmental group, said this week’s poll is an I-told-you-so moment for the anti-ESG movement.
“This is more than Ron DeSantis flopping on the national stage, the war on responsible investing has become a pillar of the Republican platform and it fails horribly with voters,” Climate Power Deputy Executive Director Claire Moser said in a statement.
“Voters do not want conservative culture warriors imposing their extreme conspiracy theories, fear mongering and bigotry on American businesses,” she said.
