Businesses reject the businessman: Fortune 500 CEOs prefer Clinton to Trump

Donald Trump’s business acumen isn’t enough to convince top executives he’s the best choice to lead the country.

In a survey of Fortune 500 CEOs, 58 percent preferred Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over the Republican presumptive nominee. Forty-two percent preferred Trump.

“Big company CEOs tend to lean heavily Republican,” Fortune said. “But most of the 500 operate on a global scale, and many disagree with Trump’s proposals for raising trade barriers, his stance on immigration, or other comments showing his lack of understanding of the basics of government.”

The executives were polled on a variety of questions regarding their businesses and their own lives, including which presidential candidate they preferred. Only Trump and Clinton were listed as possible choices.

Nearly half of the CEOs (49 percent) said they expected the global economy to be “about the same” a year from now, while 31 percent said it would be better and 20 percent said it would be worse. Seventy percent said they expected to be able to hire more employees two years from now.

The poll was conducted by email, and 71 CEOs (14 percent) responded. Of those 71, 16 did not answer the question regarding their preferred presidential candidate.

This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 1:40 PM with the headline "Businesses reject the businessman: Fortune 500 CEOs prefer Clinton to Trump."