---
title: "2. Small and large businesses, banks, and technology companies"
description: "Small businesses Americans’ views of small businesses have become more positive over the past year: 86% now say that small businesses are having a positive effect on the way things are going in the country these days, up from 80% in October 2022. Overwhelming majorities of both Democrats (88%) and Republicans (87%) view small businesses […]"
date: "2024-02-01"
authors:
  - name: "Reem Nadeem"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/02/01/small-and-large-businesses-banks-and-technology-companies/"
categories:
  - "Business & Workplace"
  - "Higher Education"
  - "K-12"
  - "Military & Veterans"
  - "Partisanship & Issues"
  - "Religious Leaders & Institutions"
  - "Tech Companies"
  - "Trust in Government"
  - "Unions"
datasets:
  - name: "American Trends Panel Wave 140"
    url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/dataset/american-trends-panel-wave-140/"
---

# 2. Small and large businesses, banks, and technology companies

#### Small businesses

Americans’ views of small businesses have become more positive over the past year: 86% now say that small businesses are having a positive effect on the way things are going in the country these days, up from 80% in October 2022.

Overwhelming majorities of both Democrats (88%) and Republicans (87%) view small businesses positively.

#### Large corporations, banks and financial institutions

[![Chart shows Modest partisan differences in views of big businesses and technology companies](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/PP_2024.02.01_institutions_2-01.png?w=420)](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/02/01/small-and-large-businesses-banks-and-technology-companies/pp_2024-02-01_institutions_2-01-png/)

Members of both partisan coalitions also have nearly identical – and mostly negative – opinions of banks and financial institutions and large corporations.

Just 38% each among Republicans and Democrats view banks positively. Republicans have become notably less positive toward banks in recent years; in 2019, a 63% majority of Republicans had a positive opinion of how banks affected the country. Democrats’ attitudes are mostly unchanged over this period.

Republicans and Democrats have similarly negative opinions of large corporations – just 32% of Republicans and 26% of Democrats view their impact positively. As is the case with banks, Republicans are less positive toward large corporations than they were five years ago (54% in 2019).

#### Technology companies

Democrats are somewhat more positive than Republicans toward technology companies (58% vs. 49%). While Democrats’ opinions are little changed over the past five years, Republicans’ views turned less positive between 2019 and 2021, declining 20 percentage points (from 58% to 38%). Republicans have become more positive since then.

---

**Next:** [3. Labor unions](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/02/01/labor-unions.md)