Gallup has been measuring Americans’ opinions of various economic systems or aspects of the economy since 2010. Surveys are conducted over landlines or cellphones with at least 1000 U.S. adults aged 18 and older living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Interviews are conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. The latest survey was conducted in August of this year.

In these surveys, respondents are asked, “Just off the top of your head, would you say you have a positive or negative image of each of the following?” Their views are then solicited on capitalism, free enterprise, socialism, big business and small business. Each post in this series will focus on a subset of the 2025 survey responses. So far I’ve compared responses to capitalism vs. socialism and free enterprise vs. capitalism. This post will compare responses to big business and small business. Here’s a summary of those responses, by self-reported party identity:

Definitions:

Big business: Large companies considered together as a powerful group. Britannica Dictionary 

Big business: a pejorative term referring to the wielding of excessive power by large businesses. Wikipedia

Large Business (developed countries): commonly have 250 or more employees and garner more than $1 billion in gross receipts. Enterprises by Business Size

Large Business (US): Any business that does not meet the small size standard for its industry is considered a large business. U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 

Small Business (US): The SBA defines a small business by size standards that vary by industry, measured by the number of employees or average annual receipts. The SBA's size standards are not one-size-fits-all…meaning what's considered small for a restaurant is different from what's small for a technology firm. The SBA uses size standards to determine eligibility for SBA programs. Any business that does not meet the [small] size standard for its industry is therefore ineligible for SBA programs. AI Overview/U.S. Small Business Administration 

A Few Random Comments:

Good luck finding “big business” in an economics textbook. You’ll probably find “large business” though, at least in some textbooks. That’s because large business is a neutral term, easily quantified for economic research. In contrast, big business conveys a value judgment, not a measurable thing.

“Down with large businesses!” just sounds stupid. I think most people appreciate that large businesses have their advantages and uses. Large businesses contribute to a country’s economic vitality.

But Big Business has been contrasted with the little man for over a century. The oppressor and the victim.

Big business brings to mind a history of abysmal wages and working conditions, of riots violently put down, tycoons buying political influence, and governments doing their bidding.

It’s no wonder so many Americans hate big business. But large businesses? They’re mostly ok.