Mixed Business Climate

The public’s views of business corporations are substantially less positive than they were in January 2007. Currently, nearly as many Americans have an unfavorable opinion (45%) of business corporations as have a positive view (47%). This level of favorability is a low in a quarter-century of Pew Research polling. Business favorability is down 10 points from early 2007, when 57% of the public had a favorable view of business.Opinion of business has fallen sharply among Republicans and political independents. While a 58%-majority of Republicans still have a positive view of business corporations, in 2007 fully 70% had a positive opinion.Independents have also expressed a double-digit decline in favorable views of business, and are now less positive in their views of business corporations (41% favorable) than are Democrats (47% favorable), who registered a relatively small decline in favorability toward business. Read More