8 in 10 voters say they’d feel like their company cared about their ability to get ahead if it offered an ESOP
Strong support for government action to incentivize employee ownership
WASHINGTON—A poll released Monday shows expanding employee ownership can help revive belief in the American Dream, which has been slipping away, especially among younger Americans.
Most voters believe that if more companies shared ownership with workers via employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), it would provide more opportunity for average Americans to get ahead and achieve the American dream, the poll, conducted by Echelon Insights, shows.
“Amidst all the negative headlines about young people and the economy, employee ownership offers a path to rebuilding their faith in our system,” said Kristen Soltis Anderson, founding partner of Echelon Insights. “My research shows young people are the least likely to believe the American Dream exists for everyone, but when they hear about employee ownership, they think it could deliver on that promise.”
The survey shows most voters haven’t heard a lot about ESOPs, but once they learn about them, they see them as powerful tools to create an economy where everyone can get ahead.
Nearly half (49%) of voters think there is less opportunity for average Americans to get ahead than there was 50 years ago, and only 22% think there will be more opportunity a few years from now than there is today. In contrast, 6 in 10 (61%) think that if more companies had ESOPs, there would be more opportunity for the average American to get ahead—a 39-point jump.
Only 29% of voters think the American dream is achievable for most Americans these days. But more than 3 in 4 (78%) think that if more companies shared ownership with employees through ESOPs, it would make the American dream achievable for more Americans. Notably, there was no generation gap on that question; young Americans, who typically believe there is less opportunity, suddenly saw a way for the American Dream to be made reality through more shared ownership.
More voters would feel the US economic system was working well for people like them if more American companies shared ownership with their employees, the survey shows. Currently, 52% of voters feel the economic system works well for Americans like them. When asked how they would feel about the way the US economic system was working for people like them if more companies shared ownership through ESOPs, 74% say they would feel it was working well.
Voters want policymakers to incentivize ESOP formation
The poll offered insight for both employers and policymakers. It showed employees would be more likely to feel like their company cared about their ability to get ahead if they shared ownership through ESOPs. Eight in 10 voters (80%) who are employed by a business or company say having an ESOP would make them feel like their company cared about their ability to get ahead, compared to 46% who currently feel their company cares — a 34-point increase.
Seventy-eight percent expressed support for government to incentivize companies to offer employee ownership programs. And 69% say that if a politician supported expanding tax breaks to encourage more companies to form ESOPs, they would see that as a sign the politician cared about how much opportunity the average American has to get ahead financially.
“The survey makes it clear voters want their elected officials to take action to make it easier for companies to share ownership with workers,” said Michael Sinacore, head of policy and government affairs at Expanding ESOPs. “At a time when policymakers are seeking ways to lift up working people, there’s a solution staring them right in the face that comes with broad support from voters of all political stripes.”
The survey shows respondents who support ESOPs like them primarily for three reasons: increased motivation/incentivizes productivity, expanded financial benefits for employees, and giving employees a stake in the success of their company. Eighty-three percent of voters believe a company having an ESOP would help its employees get ahead financially.
The poll aligns with the experiences of employee owners like Ronnie Kleinjans, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ronnie’s parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles had jobs with union pension plans at companies like General Motors and Steelcase, he wrote in an op-ed in the Detroit News. But by the time he entered the workforce, those jobs had disappeared.
Kleinjans found a job as a roofer before moving on to a manufacturer that rebuilt transmissions for trucks. “I didn’t have the same choices as those who came before me,” he wrote. But he got a lifeline—and a renewed belief in the American Dream—when the company was bought by Indiana-based Jasper Engines & Transmissions, one of the country’s largest ESOPs.
Overnight, Ronnie became an owner, “transforming my job into something closer to one my grandparents might have had,” he wrote. For the first time, he was able to imagine the kind of future he once thought would forever be out of reach. “Our annual ESOP statements were modest to start,” he wrote, “but the balance kept going up each year. Soon, it became clear the ESOP was a giant of a benefit that was helping me build generational wealth for my family.”
About Expanding ESOPs
Founded in 2024, Expanding ESOPs is a coalition of more than 100 organizations spanning the business, policy and advocacy worlds united to scale the adoption of ESOPs— a powerful, but underused, means of providing front-line workers with the benefits of employee stock ownership. ESOPs provide tax incentives to extend ownership opportunities throughout a company, allowing workers to share in the wealth they help create. Worker ownership often results in greater worker retention, engagement and productivity for companies.
ESOPs were formally incorporated into federal law through the Employee Retirement Income Security Act in 1974, and decades of academic research have demonstrated their effectiveness as a wealth-creation tool for workers.