Voters wary of government ownership in companies as Trump administration takes equity stakes

About half of Americans believe it isn't appropriate for the U.S. government to take ownership in U.S.-based companies, CNBC's new All-America Economic Survey found.

The finding comes as the Trump administration has negotiated 30 deals worth nearly $27 billion in total, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank. More may be coming. The administration has held talks with influential artificial intelligence start-up OpenAI about a potential government stake when it goes public, CNBC has reported.

The All-America poll results show only 19% of voters say it is appropriate for the federal government to own a portion of U.S-.based companies, while 49% say it isn't. Almost a third of voters, or 32%, were undecided, however, suggesting there is room for persuasion as the administration moves ahead with its plans.

CNBC's All America poll was conducted July 8-12 with a nationwide group of 1,000 registered voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The poll was conducted in collaboration with Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies. Results were released Friday.

Some U.S. ownership stakes have been opportunistic, while others have been a part of a broader economic strategy. The largest came in August when the U.S. government took 10% ownership of chipmaker Intel. The U.S. government had agreed to provide $8.9 billion in grants to Intel under legislation passed under the Biden administration. The Trump administration decided it wanted equity in exchange, saying that would allow the taxpayer to share in any potential upside. 

The initial $8.9 billion U.S. stake in Intel has grown 372% since then and was worth $42 billion as of Thursday's close. 

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick discussed the Intel stake with Senate Republicans at a policy lunch last week. 

"We have to be careful about that," Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said following the meeting. "I understand that he sees value in there for the taxpayer and all that. I'd want to be cautious in this area."

Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, also said he was concerned about the trend of the U.S. government taking equity stakes. "I understand that sometimes it makes sense from a national security standpoint and from a taxpayer standpoint," Husted said. But, he added it "shouldn't be permanent."

Husted is sponsoring legislation to allow the U.S. government to invest in companies for national-security reasons but only for up to eight years.

Other government stakes have come through a coordinated effort by the federal government to make sure the U.S. has secure access to resources and technologies it needs for national defense. The Pentagon has backed a company called MP Materials that mines rare earths within the U.S. China has in recent years consolidated its control over rare-earth mining, giving it a chokehold over critical components required to build advanced fighter jets, drones and other technologies. 

Critics of U.S involvement in private companies argue that while the government's favor may temporarily make companies more appealing to shareholders, in the long run companies heavily managed by the government are less competitive. The U.S. steel industry is often cited as a critical example. It has been heavily protected through tariffs and other government measures over the years. In 2025, U.S. Steel was taken private by a Japanese firm. The U.S. government was given a so-called golden share that allows it to veto certain business decisions.

The U.S. campaign to use its financial heft to support companies involved in national security has attracted attention from private investors, some of whom have ties to the president. ProPublica reported in May that the White House urged the Pentagon to support defense startup Vulcan Elements, a company that had received an investment from a firm linked to Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son. The Pentagon issued privately held Vulcan a $620 million loan. 

A White House official described the ProPublica report on the White House's involvement in Vulcan as "fake news on steroids." A spokesperson for Donald Trump Jr. said he wasn't personally involved in the deal and doesn't discuss his investments with federal government officials.

Democrats are more likely to worry about U.S. government stakes than Republicans. The CNBC poll found 66% of Democrats found it not appropriate for the U.S. to take equity stakes in American companies, while only 34% of Republicans agreed. 

Even among President Donald Trump's most ardent supporters, skepticism is high, the poll found. Self-identified MAGA Republicans split evenly between 31 percent who said such ownership is appropriate and 31 percent who said it's not appropriate. Another 38 percent said they had no opinion on the matter.

The new poll results showed a shift from the October 2025 All-America Economic Survey when 56% of voters said it was not appropriate for the U.S. government to own a portion of a private company. At that time, 13% of voters said such ownership was appropriate, with 31% saying they had no opinion.

—Emily Wilkins contributed to this report.