WASHINGTON, DC – Today, The Tech Oversight Project spotlighted new polling from Navigator Research showing that the American people are deeply concerned about Big Tech’s noxious influence on our country and the Trump Administration. The findings also show that Big Tech’s corruption and influence peddling ranks among their biggest concerns about Trump’s first actions since taking office – only trailing increased prices due to tariffs.
“With headline after headline about Big Tech’s million-dollar deals with Trump family members, investigations into tech’s political opponents, and platform policy changes to appease Trump, the American people are rightfully concerned about Big Tech’s noxious influence and potential corruption. Big Tech companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, and Meta have wielded their monopolies to enrich themselves at our expense and control the information we receive. Voters are asking their elected officials to make it stop, and it’s time they listened,” said Sacha Haworth, Executive Director of The Tech Oversight Project.
Findings from Navigator Research:
- 50 percent of Democrats and 33 percent of independents agree that Trump’s policies are deeply corrupt, putting him in the pockets of billionaire CEOs like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg who are using their power and money to influence his decisions, instead of looking out for American families.
- 69 percent of Americans believe tech CEOs like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos will have a lot or some influence in the Trump administration, with more seeing their influence as a bad thing than a good thing (net -13; 37 percent good thing – 50 percent bad thing).
- 41 percent are most concerned that tech CEO influence will lead to Trump looking after billionaires instead of the middle class, and 32 percent are most concerned that their influence will lead to the Republican Party controlling what news we get online.
- A majority of Democrats (net -68; 12 percent good thing – 80 percent bad thing) and a plurality of independents (net -20; 27 percent good thing – 47 percent bad thing) believe tech CEO influence in the Trump administration will be a bad thing, while two in three Republicans view it more positively (net +45; 65 percent good thing – 20 percent bad thing).
- Favorability ratings of several tech CEOs tested in this survey are all underwater, including Mark Zuckerberg (net -24; 30 percent favorable – 54 percent unfavorable), Jeff Bezos (net -20; 26 percent favorable – 46 percent unfavorable), and Elon Musk (net -14; 39 percent favorable – 53 percent unfavorable).
- Musk has seen a dip in favorability since December (from net -1 to net -14), including among Republicans (from net +61 to net +47), independents (from net -18 to net -20), and Democrats (from net -55 to net -70).