Among the key takeaways from The Conference Board’s report: “Avoiding the Tragedy of the Commons - How to Improve the Political Environment for US Business,”— which is based on a recent survey of 100 public and private company government relations executives and chief legal officers, an August 2022 roundtable, and secondary research—are these:
Challenging environment for companies—Nearly all survey respondents (98%) described the political environment for companies as challenging, with 78% describing it as very or extremely challenging.
The chief drivers of this perception cited by at least a majority of respondents consist of polarization / extremism among policymakers (89%); anticorporate rhetoric and actions from policymakers (75%); the use of government power to reward or punish companies for political purposes (56%); and polarization / extremism among the electorate (53%).
An expected increase in these same four phenomena gives rise to the most concern among respondents looking forward to the next three years.
Environment negatively impacting companies—Three-quarters of respondents identified the impact of the current political climate on their organization as moderately or significantly negative (60% & 15%, respectively).
E&S advocacy backlash anticipated—A majority of companies expect a backlash from their advocacy on social and environmental issues over the next 3 to 5 years—primarily from federal elected officials (68%), advocacy groups (60%), state elected officials (59%), and employees (51%).
Corporate role in affecting political environment—Views as to the role of companies in improving the political environment were mixed, with about 30% each believing companies should take a leadership role, a supporting role, or—at most— an indirect role.
The report, which was developed in partnership with Altria, Prudential Financial, Sempra, and Steptoe & Johnson, suggests numerous tactics to help companies manage the current (and anticipated ongoing) challenging political environment.