Tech leaders back Trump or Harris in the presidential race?

The race for the White House between incumbent US Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is entering its final stages. The 2024 US presidential election will take place on November 5, and the preliminary vote count usually reveals the winner that night or early the next morning.

Currently, the chances of winning are still evenly divided between both candidates and the campaign process has not shown that either candidate is completely superior to the opponent.

In every election cycle, leaders of large corporations in general and heads of technology companies in particular rarely publicly express their support for the presidential candidate. However, there are still many technology leaders willing to publicly support and donate large sums of money to the candidates' campaigns.

For technology leaders, who are also citizens of the United States, which candidate are they supporting in the race to the White House?

Tech billionaires are backing Donald Trump

Elon Musk - Owner of social network X, founder and CEO of SpaceX, CEO of electric car company Tesla

Billionaire Elon Musk and Mr. Trump had a difficult relationship seven years ago when Musk resigned from the White House Advisory Council during Mr. Trump's term. At that time, Mr. Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change, which made Musk unhappy.

However, now the relationship between the two sides has become closer and tighter than ever.

Elon Musk excitedly danced while campaigning with Mr. Trump in Pennsylvania (Photo: NYT).

In recent months, Elon Musk has become a close ally, appearing at rallies and frequently speaking out in support of Mr. Trump in the race for the White House. Musk has also donated more than $70 million to Mr. Trump’s campaign.

If Donald Trump is elected President of the United States, Elon Musk will likely be appointed to a position in the government.

Tim Cook - CEO of Apple

Tim Cook is one of the closest tech CEOs, a former member of Trump's advisory board, and Apple itself received many "special benefits" during Trump's term. Therefore, it is not surprising that Tim Cook would support Trump's second return to the White House.

Tim Cook was on the advisory board when Mr. Trump was in office, so it is likely that the Apple CEO will once again support the Republican candidate (Photo: Fortune).

Mr. Trump is also a "big fan" of Apple and highly appreciates Tim Cook's leadership ability. In an interview in early October, Mr. Trump said that if Apple was still led by Steve Jobs instead of Tim Cook, the company would not be as successful as it is today.

Mark Zuckerberg - Founder and CEO of Meta

Like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg has a complicated relationship with Donald Trump. Initially, the two had a good relationship, but when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out globally, Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly deleted Trump's posts on Facebook because of incorrect information about the epidemic, making Trump angry.

Mark Zuckerberg once had a bad relationship with Mr. Trump, but now it's all over (Photo: Getty).

Donald Trump was then "banned" from Facebook and Instagram from January 7, 2021, after his supporters attacked the Capitol. Initially, the ban was applied indefinitely, but Facebook later decided to apply the ban for two years.

On January 25, 2023, Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) announced that it would allow Trump to return to these platforms with some content regulations.

Now, the relationship between Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump has become better. Zuckerberg publicly expressed his admiration for Mr. Trump after the assassination attempt in July.

Although the Facebook boss has yet to publicly endorse him, Mr Trump has insisted that Mark Zuckerberg is his "ally" in the presidential campaign.

Sundar Pichai - CEO of Google

During Donald Trump's previous term, Google was one of the companies that suffered quite a bit from the Trump administration's visa tightening policy. Google CEO Sundar Pichai also repeatedly criticized this issue.

Google CEO has "winged words" for Mr. Trump's election campaign (Photo: NDTV).

During Trump's previous election campaign and defeat to President Joe Biden, he criticized Google, accusing the company of providing biased search results that prevented him from attracting voters.

However, Donald Trump said that his relationship with Sundar Pichai has now become better. The two often call each other and have "winged words" for each other. CEO Sundar Pichai also publicly praised Mr. Trump after the assassination attempt last July.

Larry Ellison - Founder and Chairman of Oracle software company

Larry Ellison is a longtime Republican donor and supporter. In 2022, he donated $30 million to the campaign of Republican Senator Tim Scott, who was considered the party's presumptive presidential nominee before Trump was chosen.

Larry Ellison will certainly support his friend Donald Trump in the race to the White House (Photo: TechNews).

Larry Ellison also has a close relationship with Mr. Trump, so it is not surprising that this billionaire supports his friend in the race to the White House.

Tech billionaires are backing Kamala Harris

Bill Gates - Founder of Microsoft

During Donald Trump's presidency, Bill Gates repeatedly criticized Mr. Trump for his wrong policies that caused the Covid-19 epidemic to break out in the US.

Bill Gates donated a large sum of money to Kamala Harris because he did not want Trump to return to the White House (Photo: IDTN).

In this election, although Bill Gates has not publicly supported anyone, he has secretly donated $50 million to a non-profit organization supporting Kamala Harris' campaign, showing that Bill Gates is on the side of the Democratic candidate.

Sources close to Bill Gates said the Microsoft founder is concerned that if Mr. Trump becomes US President again, he could change the environmental protection policies that the Biden administration is implementing.

Sam Altman - Founder and CEO of OpenAI, "father" of ChatGPT

Kamala Harris's campaign, "Business Leaders for Harris," has been launched, pledging to provide better support for large and small businesses in the United States.

ChatGPT's "father" is among the technology leaders supporting Ms. Harris (Photo: OpenAI).

Currently, about 88 business leaders have pledged to support Ms. Harris's campaign, including Sam Altman, founder and CEO of artificial intelligence company OpenAI.

Laurene Powell Jobs - Wife of Apple founder Steve Jobs

Laurene Powell Jobs, who inherited a fortune of more than $15 billion after Steve Jobs passed away, is a key figure behind Kamala Harris's campaign.

Laurene Powell Jobs has a long-standing close friendship with Ms. Harris (Photo: Getty).

Laurene Powell Jobs and Kamala Harris have been close friends for at least two decades. Jobs has not only provided funding but also served as an advisor, helping to raise Harris' profile during her campaigns.

Laurene Powell Jobs is an active supporter of the Democratic Party and has donated millions of dollars to the party's campaigns in recent elections.

Tech billionaires still haven't decided which side to take

Jeff Bezos - Founder and Chairman of Amazon

Jeff Bezos was once disliked by both Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden, because Bezos was seen as a symbol of the strong polarization between rich and poor in American society.

Amazon founder does not reveal his political views (Photo: Azf).

Bezos has said he is not endorsing any presidential candidates or donating money to campaigns, and he plans to remain neutral until the election.

Steve Ballmer - Former CEO of Microsoft

While his close friend Bill Gates has leaned toward Kamala Harris, Steve Ballmer has remained neutral. Ballmer has dodged questions about who he would vote for.

Former Microsoft CEO dodges all questions about who he will vote for (Photo: USA Today).

"Am I going to vote? Absolutely, I'm a citizen of the United States, I'm going to vote and that's private information. I think our country needs to spend more on preschool and kids who are not well off. That's a nonpartisan issue," Steve Ballmer replied when asked who he would vote for.

Satya Nadella - CEO Microsoft

Microsoft CEO remains neutral ahead of upcoming election (Photo: Imgs).

Similar to his predecessor Steve Ballmer, current CEO at Microsoft, Satya Nadella, has not publicly expressed support for any presidential candidate and it is still unclear who he will decide to vote for.

Jensen Huang - Founder and Chairman of Nvidia

Nvidia founder has yet to say which presidential candidate he will support (Photo: Nvidia).

Jensen Huang has not publicly endorsed any presidential candidate, but he has commented on the tax policies that both Trump and Harris plan to impose if elected President.

“No matter what the tariff is, we will support it,” Jensen Huang said in a recent interview.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-manh-so/cac-lanh-dao-cong-nghe-ung-ho-trump-hay-harris-trong-cuoc-dua-tong-thong-20241102022901146.htm