
Amazon has been an easy punching bag for a certain cadre of critics as of late. The online retailer, which had a $1 trillion valuation in September 2018 and is run by the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, has drawn the ire of progressives. Sen. Bernie Sanders successfully shamed the company into paying its workers a $15-per-hour wage, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigned against the company’s plans to place one of its new hubs in Long Island City, Queens. That campaign ended this week when Amazon said it’ll abandon those ambitions and launch a search for a new hub city. Bezos even incurred the ire of South Park: He was portrayed as a colossal-brained villain throughout the TV show’s recently concluded 22nd season.
But while Amazon may be viewed skeptically by experts, politicians and comedians, it’s won over the most important constituency of all — the American public. That’s according to a recent poll from Georgetown University: Not only was Amazon ranked the second-most trusted of 20 institutions in the sample of 5,400 Americans, it was also one of the few to receive near-total bipartisan acclaim.