Billionaires, Corporate Landlords, and AI Companies Are Seen As Among the Worst Actors in U.S. Society

Americans are generally pessimistic about the state of their country. Previous Data for Progress polling has found that a majority of voters think life in the U.S. is getting worse, and that this low national mood stems from a variety of factors, including the cost of living, social division, authoritarianism, and wealth inequality. 

To build upon this research and better understand which actors and institutions are viewed as having the most negative effects on the country, Data for Progress conducted two surveys to evaluate how 40 different actors are impacting the U.S. economy and society. These actors were distributed across eight different categories — tech, politics, finance, health, energy, education, retail, and civic — and each category was shown to approximately one-quarter of respondents on one survey. 

Using a 1-7 scale, voters were asked to evaluate the impact of each actor on the economy (“things like jobs, prices, and economic growth”) as well as society (“things like feelings of community, well-being, and social trust”). A weighted average economic and societal score was then calculated for each actor.

The surveys reveal a strong correlation between how a voter evaluates an actor’s societal and economic impacts — a Pearson coefficient (r) of .77 — meaning an actor’s perceived economic impact is strongly correlated to its perceived societal impact.

Overall, the majority of the actors and institutions tested are seen as having a positive impact across both axes. But several stand out as having a clearly negative impact, with billionaires and corporate landlords being perceived most negatively, followed by sports gambling marketplaces, artificial intelligence companies, cryptocurrency companies, and payday loan companies. 

Other actors evaluated negatively on both the economic and societal metrics include both the Republican and the Democratic parties, as well as social media companies, for-profit universities, and cable news networks.

The most popular actors tested are small businesses and libraries, followed by small regional banks, charitable organizations, hospitals, and churches.