Business for America Survey Shows 95% of Americans Think Businesses Should Make Sure Employees Have Time to Vote

San Francisco (February 19, 2020) — A Business for America survey exploring public perception of businesses’ role in ensuring access to elections discovered that 95% of full-time employed Americans agree that businesses should make sure their employees have time to vote on Election Day.

In addition, almost everyone (99.5%) agrees it's important that voters should be able to trust how elections in the U.S. are run. Two-thirds (66.9%) agree that businesses have the ability to help restore trust in U.S. elections, and they also agree that businesses need to do more to help restore that trust (67.4%).

“Our democracy has been vital to the success of American business,” says Sarah Bonk, Founder of Business for America. “American companies are leading the way to solve some of our country’s most pressing economic, social, and environmental challenges — and now it’s crucial to help restore public trust in our elections, too.”

The Business for America survey results are being released in collaboration with the Time to Vote initiative, a nonpartisan coalition of hundreds of U.S. companies whose goal is to increase voter participation in the Nov. 3, 2020 general election. Representing more than 2 million workers, Time to Vote members include Best Buy, DICK’S Sporting Goods, Farmers Insurance, Gap Inc., Glossier Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Kaiser Permanente, Levi Strauss & Co., Lyft, New Belgium Brewing, PayPal, Patagonia, REI Co-op, Target, VF Corporation, Walmart, Warby Parker, and hundreds more.

Patagonia Spokesman J.J. Huggins notes that Time to Vote “ensures that employees across America don't have to choose between voting and earning a paycheck. The business-led initiative is free to participate in and non-prescriptive, with companies choosing how to engage.”

“While most states already require employers to allow employees to take time away from their jobs to vote, businesses can do a lot more to be proactive and encourage their employees to vote, including signing up for the Time to Vote initiative,” said Richard Eidlin, Policy Director at Business for America.  That could mean providing employees with time off to cast their ballot on November 3rd, making sure employees know how to register and where to vote, and in vote-by-mail states, cover the cost of postage or remind employees when their ballots are due.

“Any business concerned about joining Time to Vote due to concerns about being perceived as partisan can rest assured that their employees will appreciate their efforts,” stated David Gilmour, Director of Corporate Civic Responsibility at Business for America. “Employees want to work for companies that do good in the world, including supporting our communities’ civic health, and businesses will see ROI with better recruitment and employee retention.”

About the Survey

This survey was conducted by Business for America using SurveyMonkey. The purpose of the survey was to gauge how employed Americans feel about elections and their employers’ ability to improve public trust in elections. The survey was conducted online between February 7th and 9th, 2020. The survey used a representative sample of full-time employed Americans over the age of 18 with n=408.