Read the room: Corporate trust is collapsing

By Accountable Iowa

April 17, 2026

With primary election season upon us, politicians would be wise to understand how voters are feeling about old-guard political power brokers like corporate lobbying groups.

Last year we reported polling results showing Iowans, across every demographic, overwhelmingly oppose giving chemical companies like Bayer and Monsanto immunity from lawsuits. This wasn't environmental activists. Among Iowa Republicans, 87% oppose pesticide liability immunity legislation, 96% support punishing companies with big fines for reckless disregard of public safety, 89% don't trust Monsanto, and 76% don't trust Bayer.

These are not close calls. But here's what we got wrong: we assumed this was just about pesticides. It isn't. Iowans' contempt for Bayer and Monsanto is simply a local expression of a national fury toward large corporations, and that fury is actively churning among voters across all demographics.

Last month Cygnal, one of the nation's most accurate GOP pollsters, released a large national survey with a 2.5% margin of error. The results should alarm any politician who expects being labeled "pro-business" will land well with voters. When asked how much they trust large corporations to act in the best interests of ordinary Americans, 78% of respondents said "not very much" or "not at all." This includes rural voters at 83%. Let that sink in. The most reliably Republican voters in America trust large corporations less than almost any other group surveyed. When asked whether corporations tell the truth about their policy motivations, 86% of respondents say no. Among Republicans, that number is 80%. The Cygnal pollsters were blunt: "These are the voters corporations typically count as allies, and even they don't trust corporate stated motives."

Once upon a time, an endorsement from the major corporate lobbying groups was a prize Iowa candidates competed for. Today it is a liability. Being the corporate lobby’s candidate tells voters exactly whose side you're on.

Accountable Iowa exists to protect the constitutional right of ordinary Iowans to have their day in court. The courtroom, not big government, is where individuals fight back against corporations that act with reckless disregard for public safety. When Bayer hid data about Roundup's cancer risks, it wasn't a regulator who exposed them, it was an individual’s lawsuit. The right of the individual to have their day in court is the free market's most powerful self-correcting mechanism. This is a fundamental American principle, and corporations have long fought to eliminate that individual right.

The pesticide liability immunity fight was a test, and Iowans were watching. Those who stand with corporate lobbyists over Iowa families now have a serious data problem. Voters have already decided where they stand. The only question is whether candidates will catch up before someone else does it for them.