Fortune 100 CEOs are a historically Republican-leaning group, but none have donated to former President Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign, said Jeffrey Zonnefeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management. luck.
According to the latest data from Yale University’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute, where Zonnefeld directs, just two donors gave to Trump in 2020 and zero in 2016. By contrast, 28 Fortune 100 CEOs donated to Utah Sen. Mitt Romney’s campaign in 2012, and 29 donated to John McCain in 2018.
Zonnefeld said the numbers are just another piece of evidence that Trump has “the lowest level of corporate support” in the history of the Republican Party. Having worked closely with CEOs of top companies, including discussions with the heads of PepsiCo, Ford, UPS, Verizon and IBM, Zonnefeld said many of them “detest” Trump’s social and fiscal policies.
These CEOs are typically 65% ​​to 70% Republican but will likely vote “enthusiastically or reluctantly” for Biden, added Zonnefeld, who cited about 30 top CEOs as Biden supporters, including Melinda French Gates, David Ellison (son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison) and Reed Hastings.
This notion runs counter to recent reports in major media outlets that business leaders who rejected Trump in 2020 are rallying around him again. Last week, Trump met with dozens of business executives and promised further corporate tax cuts. Stephen Moore, one of Trump’s closest economic advisers and his (briefly) appointed Federal Reserve chairman, said: luck Trump attended the meeting and the CEOs said they were “fascinated” by him.
Economic Policy
But Zonnefeld said top corporate CEOs believe the proposed tax cuts would cause inflation without cuts in government spending, a notion Moore dismissed as “completely stupid.” Moore argued that corporate tax cuts would increase demand for the dollar by making foreign investments more valuable.
“When demand for dollars increases, the value of the dollar increases and prices relative to the dollar fall,” Moore said. “That’s what happened after the Trump tax cuts.”
Recent economic studies have shown that while Trump’s corporate tax cuts did boost business investment, they did not generate nearly enough economic growth to “pay for” the tax cuts, as the Trump campaign has long argued. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that a full extension of the tax cuts, which expire in 2026, would cost $4.9 trillion over 10 years, including additional interest on the debt. The federal public debt is about $27.6 trillion, or about 108% of GDP.
In any case, Zonnefeld said corporate tax cuts are more of a concern for the ultra-rich, and cited venture capitalist David Sachs and Mellon Bank heir Timothy Mellon, both of whom are Trump supporters, as voters who would be interested in such a cut.
Instead, he said, what’s more concerning to CEOs are Biden’s antitrust policies and his support for stronger capital gains taxes, which Zonnefeld opposes.
“No one is saying Biden’s policies are perfect, and they do have some problems,” Sonnenfeld said, “but those problems pale in comparison to the pernicious threats that President-elect Trump poses to inflation, economic stability, and most importantly, democracy.”
The rise of the CEO In 2020
Zonnefeld said many top CEOs were deeply upset by Trump’s denial of the election results.
Sonnefeld said that on the evening of Nov. 6, 2020, the day Trump declared himself the winner, he received a flood of emails and calls from concerned CEOs who were asking Trump to gather business leaders together and write a statement affirming that Biden was the true winner of the election.
“I figured they must have thought that because everyone else was putting their money, resources and reputations on the line, I had nothing to lose if it didn’t work out,” Sonnefeld said.
He called 100 CEOs, 94 of whom showed up for a 7 a.m. Zoom call the next morning to hammer out their opinions. The chief executives of Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson and Walmart were among those in attendance. Financial Times It was reported at the time.
Mr. Zonnefeld declined to name those in attendance, but noted that the majority leaned Republican. Still, the CEOs publicly denounced the events of the night before without being surrounded by staff or reporters.
“It was a very strong and open discussion,” said Zonnefeld, who acted as scribe and recorded some of the comments from the group, first congratulating Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and then noting that anyone who challenges the election results should be sued.
The statement was issued by the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and others.
Zonnefeld said the group met again after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and unanimously called for the impeachment of President Trump.
Moore declined to comment, saying he was unfamiliar with the group or its work, but added that Trump is the candidate of small business and Biden is the candidate of big business and Wall Street interests.
“There’s no question about that,” Moore said, adding that businesses of all kinds should view Trump “much more favorably” in this election because they believe his economic policies are better than Biden’s.
“The situation is completely different now,” he said.
