Americans likely to associate tech CEOs, even fake ones, with GOP: Poll

Americans are more likely to assume the executives heading up the largest technology firms are Republican, marking a drastic shift in perception of what was once known as a liberal Silicon Valley, according to a new poll.

In a new poll published by Politico on Monday, American respondents were asked about eight current or former CEOs of technology firms, and for all but former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, more respondents believed the executives are personally a Republican.

The poll, conducted by PF Global, underscores the potential lasting impacts of the AI and tech industry’s attempts in the past two years to court President Trump’s favor.

After being hammered by Trump for much of his first term, most of the country’s tech leaders spent months trying to get on the president’s good side before his second term.

Following numerous inaugural donations, trips to Mar-a-Lago and policy changes at their own firms, Trump reconciled with most of the leaders and has since advocated for a light-touch regulatory approach to allow the firms to develop.

The Politico poll results signal the sea change in Silicon Valley made a lasting impression on Americans, and they raise questions over how this will impact the industry’s reputation in the long term.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, a major financial backer of the Republican Party, is the most likely tech leader to be viewed as Republican, with 59 percent of American respondents viewing him that way and 14 percent choosing Democrat. After a brief hiatus from the political world, it was revealed last week that Musk is the largest known campaign donor of 2026, giving at least $276 million this cycle to GOP-affiliated PACs and campaigns.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, was the second-most likely leader to be viewed as a Republican, with 40 percent viewing him as such and 27 percent viewing him as a Democrat. Zuckerberg, who once clashed with Trump, became a close ally of the president in his second term and often speaks personally with the president on tech policy.

Meanwhile, 35 percent of respondents believe Gates, a major donor for Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential run against Trump, is a Democrat, and 31 percent said they see him as a Republican. Americans were almost evenly split on former Apple CEO Tim Cook, with 29 percent viewing him as a Republican and 27 percent viewing him as a Democrat.

For Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration this year on AI safety, a plurality of 28 percent still think he is a Republican, while 20 percent pegged him as a Democrat. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who donated to Democrat PACs and some Republicans in the past, is slightly more likely to be viewed as a Republican at 32 percent, while 22 percent believe he is a Democrat.

About 28 percent of respondents believe Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, a fierce Trump ally, is Republican, while 20 percent said he is Democrat. Google CEO Sundar Pichai had narrower margins, with 28 percent believing he is a Republican and 24 percent predicting him as a Democrat.

And when testing the name of a fake CEO named “Marshall Ancoates,” more respondents — 22 percent — believed the fictional person to be a Republican, compared to the 18 percent who chose Democrat. Among the Trump 2024 voters who responded to the poll, 30 percent thought “Ancoates” is a Republican, while 19 percent went with Democrat, Politico reported. Harris 2024 voters, meanwhile, were split: 24 percent believed the fake CEO is a Democrat and 24 percent went with the GOP.

Voters also associated AI and tech groups with Republican candidates more than Democratic candidates, at 29 percent to 13 percent, respectively. Respondents also “almost directly” associated tech workers themselves with their bosses, according to the poll. About 52 percent of respondents said Tesla employees are Republicans, while 33 percent and 28 percent think OpenAI and Anthropic staffers, respectively, are GOP members.

When asked about 12 industries’ midterms spending, both Harris and Trump 2024 voters agreed the AI and tech industry was the biggest spender for Republican movements.

The poll was conducted Oct. 10-12 among 2,000 U.S. adults. The overall margin of error is 2.2 percentage points, while smaller subgroups have higher margins of error.