In fall 2025, the Governance of Organizations Working Group at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and Stanford Graduate School of Business hired Prolific to conduct a nationwide survey of 2,653 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:
- Concern for environmental matters falls across all age groups; concern for social issues remains flat.
- Investors show little appetite for ESG advocacy; wealth preservation takes priority.
- Young investors close their wallets, as willingness to pay for ESG continues to fall. Older investors still do not want to lose anything.
- Investor reaction is divided when companies walk back ESG commitments, with strong opposition from some partially offset by strong approval by others.
- Investor expectations for future growth continue to slide.
