Sixty-three percent of corporate executives agree companies should speak out on social issues, while just 36% of consumers want companies to do so, according to a survey by the advisory firm Brunswick Insight.
Here are how the rest of the results break down:
- 74% of the business executives believe communication on social issues has been effective.
- 30% of consumers say it has been effective.
- 51% of those who voted for Joe Biden believe company executives should speak out, compared to 40% who say companies should speak out only when it is related to the firms' business.
- 9% say companies should not speak out at all.
- 20% of those who voted for Donald Trump said company execs should speak out, compared to 49% who believe the executives should weigh in only when it pertains to their companies.
- 31% say they should not speak out at all.
"In a highly complex civic, socio-economic and communications environment, there is enormous pressure on organizations to respond to everything that is happening," the accompanying report says.
"The net result is ever-more engagement from companies, but based on new research from Brunswick that surveyed corporate executives and 2020 voters, the efforts are all-too-often disbelieved as authentic — by people across every part of the political and socio-economic spectrum."
The poll, conducted Sept. 29-Oct. 7, surveyed 301 corporate executives and 800 people who voted in 2020.