(NewsNation) — While it’s become increasingly common for America’s brands to voice their views on hot-button social and political issues, there may be declining public support for this form of corporate activism.
That’s according to a new Gallup-Bentley University Research brief, which surveyed Americans about their views of business and society.
One of the findings of that report was that 41% of Americans said that businesses should “take a public stance on current events.” That’s down 7 percentage points from the same question asked last year. The decline in support was largely driven by Democrats. 75% wanted businesses to take these stances last year, but 62% supported them taking those stances this year.
When it comes to specific topics, very few Americans are in favor of businesses taking stances on religion (15% support them doing so) or abortion (26% support that).
But a majority of Americans do favor businesses speaking about two topics — 55% support stances on climate change and 52% support stances on mental health.
There is a sign that some businesses may be responding to this shift in opinion. Disney CEO Bob Iger recently said that “last thing I want is for the company to be drawn into any culture wars.”