Sixty-three percent of Americans say businesses have a positive impact on people’s lives, up 8 percentage points from 2022, according to a new poll.
More than half — 58 percent — of Americans surveyed said businesses are effective in making positive impacts on people’s lives, but many said they believe there’s room for them to do more than they already are.
The Bentley University and Gallup survey found that Americans were twice as likely to say small businesses had a positive effect than larger businesses. Adults are more likely to trust small businesses than bigger ones, previous studies found.
Adults younger than 45 and respondents who identify in the LGBTQ community were far less likely than others to believe large businesses have a positive impact, the report found.
Nearly 90 percent of Americans said they believe businesses have a “great deal” or “some” power to impact people’s lives in a positive way, but only 58 percent said the companies are effective in doing so. Most people believe organizations are not maximizing their capabilities to improve lives for Americans.
Views on businesses’ impact are consistent across demographic groups but vary by age, the report found. Respondents aged 60 or older were more likely to say businesses had a positive impact on their lives than younger adults.
Typically, respondents didn’t think companies should speak out about current events. Younger respondents were more likely than older adults to say companies should take a stance on issues. Of the many issues, respondents agreed that mental health and climate change were issues that businesses should take a public stance on.
More than half — 55 percent — of respondents said companies should speak out about climate change, and 52 percent said they should take a stance on mental health. Only 15 percent of those surveyed said religion is something they want a business to speak publicly about.
Many of the adults surveyed said they think businesses are still falling short.
Respondents said fair compensation, high-quality health care, making profits ethically and operating in environmentally sustainable ways are priorities that help them decide if a business impacts people’s lives in a positive way.
The Business in Society study was conducted May 8-15 and had 5,458 respondents. It has a margin of error of 1.8 percentage points.