WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fifteen percent of Americans say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in big business, far below the 70% who say they have confidence in small business, as of June 2025. Separately, an August 2025 poll found that 37% of Americans have a positive view of big business, while 95% have a positive view of small business. Perceptions of small business have generally been steady in recent years, while views of big business have worsened.
Declining U.S. Confidence in Big Business
Gallup’s latest update from 2025 finds that 5% of U.S. adults have a great deal and 10% have quite a lot of confidence in big business. A plurality, 43% of Americans, have very little confidence. The combined percentage expressing a great deal or quite a lot of confidence is among the lowest readings for big business in Gallup’s trend since 1973.
Meanwhile, 70% of Americans report having a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in small business. This is down slightly from a high of 75% in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic but still among the higher readings in the trend. Confidence has remained consistently at or above 59% since Gallup began measuring it annually in 2007.
Confidence in Business, by Party
Declining confidence in big business is seen across demographic subgroups, although some groups retain higher confidence than others. The largest differences are observed by party, with Republicans the most confident in big business (26%), compared with independents (13%) and Democrats (11%). This parallels confidence in small business, for which 79% of Republicans report a great deal or quite a lot of confidence, compared with 68% of Democrats and 67% of independents.
College graduates are more likely to express higher confidence in big (19%) and small business (74%) than those without a college degree (13% and 67%, respectively).
While there are no meaningful differences in confidence in big business by income level, lower-income Americans are less likely to report confidence in small business (61%) compared with middle-income (70%) and upper-income Americans (77%).
Additionally, young adults, those aged 18 to 34, are less likely to report confidence in big business (10%) than those aged 35 to 54 (20%) and aged 55 and older (17%). There are no meaningful differences by age in confidence in small business.
Public Image of Small and Big Business
Gallup periodically asks Americans if they have a positive or negative view of both small business and big business. In 2025, 95% of Americans said they view small business positively, and 37% said the same about big business. Opinions of small business have been consistently positive over time, with each measure exceeding 90%. There has been greater variation in ratings of big business, with the latest reading the lowest to date. Positive ratings of big business have been as high as 58% in 2012.
Positive views of small business are high across all subgroups. The only meaningful differences exist by income level, with 89% of lower-income Americans viewing small business positively, compared with 97% of middle-income and 99% of upper-income Americans. This pattern is consistent with previous years.
Positive views of big business have declined among almost all demographic subgroups since 2021, including Democrats (falling 17 points, to 17%) and independents (down eight points, to 36%) but not meaningfully among Republicans (down one point, to 60%). However, this still represents a decrease for Republicans from their high point of 78% in 2019.
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Gallup's full trend on big business is available on the Big Business "Topics A to Z" page.
