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20% OF AMERICANS SUPPORT BOYCOTT OF FIRMS ALIGNING THEMSELVES WITH
TRUMP AGENDA  
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Lauren Aratani
March 22, 2025
The Guardian
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_ New poll also shows that a significant share of Americans will
avoid companies that drop social-inclusion policies _

A demonstrator holds an anti-Tesla poster during a protest
encouraging people to boycott Tesla in opposition to Tesla CEO Elon
Musk's DOGE campaign for Trump., Chris J Ratcliffe, Reuters

 

One in five Americans plan to turn their backs for good on companies
that have shifted their policies to align with Donald Trump
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according to a new poll for the Guardian.

As high-profile brands including Amazon
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boycotts,
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by the Harris Poll indicated the backlash could have a lasting impact.

“Companies and consumers are playing a high-stakes game of chicken
– corporations betting on convenience winning out over conviction,
while consumers wield their spending power like a weapon,” said
Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer at the Harris Poll.

“The data suggests this is a miscalculation,” she said. “When
20% of Americans are permanently changing their consumption habits and
nearly a third of boycotters say they’ll hold out indefinitely,
convenience may no longer be the decisive factor companies think it
is.”

When asked about the boycotts that have been making headlines over the
last few weeks, 36% of Americans said they are or will be
participating.

The strength of feeling varied significantly among people of different
generations, races and political views:

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53% of gen Zers and 46% of millennials said they are participating in
boycotts, compared with 30% of gen Xers and just 22% of Boomers.

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Over half of Black (53%) and Hispanic (51%) Americans are boycotting,
compared with 29% of white Americans.

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Democrats (49%) are far more likely to be boycotting now than
independents (32%) and conservatives (29%).

When given a list of reasons why they are boycotting, Americans said
the top reason was they want to show companies that consumers have
economic power and influence (53%) and express their dissatisfaction
with current government policies (49%).

Nearly half of those boycotting (46%) also pointed to companies
rolling back their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies as a
reason behind their boycott.

It’s difficult to track the tangible impacts boycotts have on
companies and exactly how many people participate in them. Many start
on social media, but other consumers have said
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made the decision to move away from companies on their own.

Some groups have coordinated boycotts within their communities in
recent weeks, particularly in response to companies like
Target, Amazon [[link removed]] and
Walmart rolling back DEI measures. Target, for example, ended hiring
goals for marginalized groups, while Walmart said it will no longer
prioritize finding suppliers that are women- or minority-owned
companies.

Some Americans feel companies are giving up core moral values in
bowing to the president.

The Rev Jamal Bryant, a pastor based in Baltimore with a large social
media following, called on his followers to give up
[[link removed]] spending money at Target for Lent,
which started on 5 March and lasts until 17 April.

“These rollbacks represent more than just corporate decisions; they
reflect a deeper erosion of the moral and ethical commitment necessary
to build a just society,” Bryant wrote on the website he made for
the boycott, targetfast.org [[link removed]]. “This Lent,
we will begin a corporate fast, starting with Target, as a spiritual
act of resistance.”

Hispanic activists have similarly called on their community to boycott
companies, calling it the Latino Freeze Movement. The movement
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have scaled back their DEI initiatives, and asks for participants to
not spend money on non-essentials “until they show us that they care
about our minority and immigrant populations”.

Last month, a Harris poll found
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31% of Americans have reported similar goals to “opt out” of the
economy this year in light of the changing political climate.

The companies have said that they are responding to a changing legal
environment around DEI. DEI has been a flashpoint in the culture wars
for years, with conservatives arguing that it unfairly discriminates
against groups that have historically been in the majority, like white
Americans.

On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to abolish DEI, and he signed
multiple executive orders
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DEI programs within the federal government as soon as he came into
office. The impact that the administration can have on efforts in the
private sector is still unclear, but some companies appear willing to
risk losing customers instead of taking their chances.

_Lauren Aratani is a reporter for Guardian US _

* Trump
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* anti-DEI campaign
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* Boycott
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* Nationwide protests
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