REUTERS: Republicans Swim Against Tide of ESG Money

For an organization that professes a love of free markets, the U.S. Republican Party is surprisingly keen to meddle in financial decisions. Its representatives in the U.S. Senate recently voted to overturn a rule that makes it easier for retirement fund managers to consider sustainability factors like climate change when making investments. Yet Republicans face an uphill battle against flows of money and their own voters’ preferences.

Though conservative politicians have recently ramped up their campaign against investments based on environmental, social and governance factors (ESG), Republicans haven’t convinced the American public to ditch ESG.

In fact, a survey by ROKK Solutions with a team of researchers from Penn State University found that a total of 63% of voters oppose government restrictions on sustainable investing and seven in 10 Republican voters pushed back against ESG constraints, saying they “interfered excessively” with the free market.

Get more on this in Reuters and don’t forget to check out ROKK’s full ESG report, “Navigating ESG in the New Congress,” here.