Most voters want state lawmakers to keep politics out of business decisions: poll

A new poll finds that a majority of voters want state lawmakers to keep politics out of business decisions and focus on factors like cost and reliability.

The new poll, commissioned by the National Taxpayers Union and provided exclusively to The Hill, finds that a majority of voters want state lawmakers to decide whether to do business with companies based on their reliability, cost, quality and reputation, not their stance on political issues.

Sixty-three percent of voters said it’s somewhat important or not important for state governments to take into account decisions companies make on controversial political issues when potentially awarding a contract to a company, and an additional 37% said it’s “very important” for them to take into account decisions companies make on political issues.

Nearly two-thirds of voters said it was “unacceptable” for state lawmakers to not approve deals with companies because they support progressive policies on issues like climate change and diversity, according to the poll.

An overwhelming majority, 92 percent, also said state lawmakers should not use taxpayer money for personal purposes, and three-quarters of voters said state government should not punish companies for their business decisions.

“The results of this poll show that voters of all ideologies want government officials to make decisions based on business factors, not politics,” said Pete Sepp, president of the National Taxpayers Union.

“Voters are clear that they do not want their tax dollars to be used to advance political agendas or to punish companies for their private business decisions. Rather, they want state government officials to ensure the best goods and services at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers,” he added.

Nearly 70% of voters said they would oppose a bill that would ban companies with environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies from doing business with their state government, and 70% said they would have to pay more out of their own pocket if their state banned companies with ESG policies from doing business with them.

Last year, 19 states voted against President Biden’s support for ESG. “A direct threat to the American economy”

The poll was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies among 1,000 registered voters from April 30 to May 2. 95 out of 100 results have a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.53 percentage points.