2ndVote chief executive Daniel Grant told The Australian Financial Review that companies had leaned too far to the left, with 73 per cent of the S&P 500 rated as a 1 or 2 and that there was now a growing demand from investors for politically neutral, or even conservative, companies.
“Our aim is to pick the stocks that are neutral,” Mr Grant said. “There are a lot of investors who do not want their funds to be used for politically driven social justice agendas.”
The issues evaluated in 2ndVote’s scale are probably more synonymous with US politics: they include border security and immigration, abortion, education, first and second amendments of the US constitution (free speech and gun laws) and environmental concerns. However, Mr Grant said there were many parallels to Australia.
“We are very open to Australia. Many large company CEOs think they are running these companies for all stakeholders not just shareholders and that does not match the view of everyday Americans or Australians. That’s why we think Australians are interested.”
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