In summer 2024, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Hoover Institution Working Group on Corporate Governance, and the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University hired Prolific to conduct a nationwide survey of 2,072 individual investors — broadly distributed by gender, race, age, household income, and state residence — to understand how American investors view environmental, social, and governance (ESG) priorities among the companies in their investment portfolio. Respondents were screened to include only individuals with investments in the stock market through retirement or taxable accounts. Stanford University is solely responsible for the contents of this survey.
Key findings include:
- Generational gaps continue to shrink. Younger investors show less concern for ESG. Older investors register an uptick.
- Young investors lose their appetite for fund managers to advocate for ESG change. Older investors continue to value wealth preservation over advocacy.
- Young investors close their wallets, as willingness to pay for ESG falls. Older investors still do not want to lose anything.
- Democratic investors shift their stance. Republicans and Independents continue their opposition.
- Young investors have lower expectations for future growth. Older investors are more optimistic.