The presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump “continues to suffer from the lowest level of corporate support in the history of the Republican Party,” writes Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld in an op-ed this week in The New York Times.
Sonnenfeld, a professor in the practice of leadership at Yale School of Management and president of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, claims that a narrative being actively pushed by the Trump campaign — that there is a surge of support from business leaders — is a mirage, fashioned not from broad backing for Trump and his policies but on the high profile support of just a few powerful right wing financiers (Steve Schwarzman, David Sacks, Miriam Adelson, Timothy Mellon) who have thrown their weight and money behind the former president.
Chief Executive Leadership Institute CEO Jeffrey Sonnenfeld: There are no Fortune 500 CEOs who are supporting Trump. That is a historic break. The Trump economic package frightens them. It’s extremely inflationary. It’ll lead to an increase in inflation and plunge the GDP.… pic.twitter.com/eJUMyuQPg4
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) June 24, 2024
Contending that this support is not indicative of broader support in corporate boardrooms and executive suites across the country, Sonnenfeld contradicts the campaign narrative and says support for a second Trump term among business leaders is weak.
Today Axios, referencing Sonnenfeld’s research, published an article by longtime financial journalist Felix Salmon entitled: “Trump’s underwhelming business support.” Salmon opens up his report with a Sonnenfeld claim that “there are zero Fortune 100 CEOs — a group that historically leans Republican — that have donated to former President Trump this election cycle.”
Salmon writes that “just because corporate America has serious issues with Joe Biden doesn’t mean they are in Trump’s camp,” and reports it has been ever thus.
Zero Fortune 100 CEOs contributed to Trump’s 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton and only two sent him money, according to Salmon, when he ran as the incumbent in 2020. To illustrate the relative strength of Republican candidates among CEOs traditionally, Salmon cites the 42 Fortune 100 who contributed to George W. Bush‘s last presidential campaign. Approximately two-thirds of Fortune 100 CEOs are Republicans.