The top 10 US asset managers supported management resolutions in the 2025 proxy advice season more often than their smaller peers, according to an analysis by data provider Morningstar.
The report found a “slight increase” in shareholder support for management resolutions last year, with average support rising to 95.6% in 2025 from 95.0% in 2024 and 95.1% in 2023.
Morningstar analysed the proxy voting records of 50 major US equity and allocation managers in the Morningstar US Large-Mid Cap Index over the past three years, as well as votes by eight European asset managers and more than 600 US sustainable funds.
Average support for management resolutions among the top 10 US managers of equity and allocation fund assets increased to 97.5% in the 2025 proxy year compared with 97.1% in 2024 and 96.1% in 2023.
As well as showing above-market-average support for management resolutions, the top 10 US managers demonstrated below-market-average support for shareholder resolutions in every year covered. The reverse was found for the next 40 US firms.
Overall backing for director re-election and audit ratification remained above 95% over the three years studied, but support for executive compensation packages stood at around 90%.
Average support for shareholder resolutions on governance issues held firm at 30% in 2025 according to Morningstar, but backing for environmental and social-related shareholder resolutions fell from 18.8% in the 2023 proxy year to 11.6% in 2025.
The 2025 US proxy voting season saw fewer shareholder resolutions than in recent years due to rule changes introduced under the incoming Trump administration, which gave firms powers to retroactively strike off filings ahead of their AGMs. This shift was accompanied by further changes by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which added administrative burdens for managers seeking to engage with company management on sustainability issues.
Lindsey Stewart, Director of Institutional Investor Content at Morningstar, said the analysis ran counter to perceptions that the three largest index-based asset managers – BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard – were using their influence to support ‘pro-ESG’ shareholder activism.
“Our research indicates that these firms are supportive of the market overall, and if they were removed from voting, that would actually increase the probability of a successful activist campaign,” he said.
European firms dissented from the management view more often than any of the US peer groups, while US sustainable funds also supported a higher-than-average proportion of shareholder resolutions.
However, both groups reduced their support for shareholder resolutions, with European managers backing 46.7% in 2025 versus 60.3% in 2023 and support from green US funds slipping from 41.2% in 2023 to 36.9% in 2025.
