PRESS RELEASE: Heartland/Rasmussen Poll: Majority of Voters Reject Great Reset, Say Businesses’ Highest Priority Should Be Products and Services, Not Social Justice or Climate Change

Published January 17, 2022

Only 10% of voters say “trying to stop climate change” or “using business resources to pursue social justice causes” should be highest priority for businesses.

52% of voters who said they are familiar with the Great Reset said they “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose it.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL (January 18, 2022) – Voters believe that businesses should focus on traditional economic goals such as offering high-quality goods and services, earning a profit, and offering good pay and benefits for employees, rather than make climate change or social justice causes their highest priority. Voters also reject the Great Reset movement—a global economic strategy in response to the coronavirus pandemic that aims to change the priorities of capitalism—and say that international institutions such as the United Nations and World Economic Forum should have a limited impact, or none at all, on the regulations governing U.S. businesses.

A new poll by The Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports found that American voters believe businesses should focus on traditional business metrics and that a majority of voters who have heard of the Great Reset movement reject it. The survey of 1,016 likely voters, completed on January 5, 2022, found that 45% of voters believe the highest priority for businesses should be “providing individual consumers with high quality products and services at the lowest prices,” compared to just 1% who said “using business resources to pursue social justice causes.”

Twenty-three percent said “providing good benefits and pay to employees” should be the highest priority for businesses, while 14% selected “earning a profit to benefit shareholders or owners.” Just 9% said “trying to stop climate change” should be the priority for businesses.

See the poll questions and the crosstabs here.

Combined, just 10% of voters said businesses should focus on social justice causes or climate change, despite the growing movement of corporations and other businesses in the United States that have emphasized the importance of global warming and social justice in recent years.

Additionally, voters indicated that they do not support the Great Reset, an international movement of leaders in business, finance, and government that aims to remake the global economy and usher in the era of “stakeholder capitalism.” Of those voters who said they are familiar with the Great Reset movement, 52% said they “somewhat oppose” or “strongly oppose” it. Just 21% said they “strongly favor” the Great Reset.

Voters also said international institutions like the United Nations, World Economic Forum, and International Monetary Fund should have a limited influence in crafting regulations for U.S. businesses—a key part of the Great Reset. Fifty-three percent of voters said these international organizations should be “not very influential” or “not influential at all” when it comes to helping to shape business regulations.

The Heartland Institute is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1984 and headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems.

If you’d like to interview a Heartland Institute expert on this topic or other topics, please contact Justin Haskins, the director of Heartland’s Socialism Research Center and primary author of the Heartland/Rasmussen survey, at [email protected], or contact Vice President and Director of Communications Jim Lakely at [email protected]. You can also call/text Jim at 312-731-9364.

 

National Survey of 1,016 Likely Voters on the Great Reset and Priorities of U.S. Businesses

Conducted January 5, 2022
By The Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports

 

What should be the highest priority for businesses in the United States….earning a profit to benefit shareholders or owners, providing individual consumers with high quality products and services at the lowest prices, providing good benefits and pay to employees, trying to stop climate change or using business resources to pursue social justice causes?

 

14% – earning a profit to benefit shareholders or owners

45% – providing individual consumers with high quality products and services at the lowest prices

23% – providing good benefits and pay to employees

9% – trying to stop climate change

1% – using business resources to pursue social justice causes

8% – not sure

 

How influential should international institutions like the United Nations, World Economic Forum, and International Monetary Fund be in creating regulations governing United States businesses, very Influential, somewhat influential, not very influential, or not at all influential?

11% – very influential

26% – somewhat influential

20% – not very influential

33% – not at all influential

10% – you are not sure

 

Are you familiar with the Great Reset movement a global economic strategy in response to the pandemic that seeks to change the priorities of capitalism?

29% – yes

44% – no

27% – not sure

 

Asked of 292 respondents who answered “yes” to the previous question:

Do you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose the Great Reset Movement?

21% – strongly favor

22% – somewhat favor

9% – somewhat oppose

43% – strongly oppose

5% – not sure

 

NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence

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