About half of Americans say it isn’t appropriate for the U.S. government to take ownership in U.S.-based companies, even as the Trump administration keeps cutting deals that put federal power deeper into private industry. The CNBC All-America Economic Survey found that 19% of voters said it is appropriate for the federal government to own a portion of U.S.-based companies, 49% said it isn’t, and 32% were undecided.
Who Gets the Bill
The survey was conducted July 8-12 with 1,000 registered voters nationwide. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points and was released Friday. The numbers show a public split over a familiar arrangement: the state stepping into corporate ownership while ordinary people are told it’s for their own good.
The finding comes as the Trump administration has negotiated 30 deals worth nearly $27 billion in total, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, and has held talks with OpenAI about a potential government stake when it goes public. CNBC has reported on those talks. The machinery of government and the machinery of capital keep meeting in private, then presenting the results as if the public were merely supposed to nod along.
The largest government stake came in August, when the U.S. government took 10% ownership of chipmaker Intel. The government had agreed to provide $8.9 billion in grants to Intel under legislation passed under the Biden administration, and the Trump administration decided it wanted equity in exchange, saying that would allow taxpayers 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.
What They Call “Taxpayer Value”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick discussed the Intel stake with Senate Republicans at a policy lunch last week. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said, “We have to be careful about that,” and added, “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, 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. That’s the reform lane: limit the leash, keep the structure, call it restraint.
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 MP Materials, which 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.
Private Power, Public Money
Critics of U.S. involvement in private companies say that while the government’s favor may temporarily make firms more appealing to shareholders, companies heavily managed by the government are less competitive in the long run. 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, and 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 also 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 administration’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.
The poll also showed the public’s skepticism doesn’t break neatly along party lines, though Democrats were 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 34% of Republicans agreed. Even among President Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters, skepticism was high: self-identified MAGA Republicans split evenly, with 31% saying such ownership is appropriate and 31% saying it isn’t, while 38% had no opinion.
The new poll 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, 13% said such ownership was appropriate and 31% had no opinion. The numbers moved, but the basic arrangement stayed the same: power at the top, risk and consequences pushed downward, and the public left to react after the deals are already done.