Trump Organization finishes last in brand reputation survey for second straight year

The Trump Organization, the company led by former President Trump and his family, finished last in an Axios Harris survey of brand reputations for the second year in a row. 

The annual poll compiles views of what respondents identify as the 100 most visible companies in the country. The company calculates its Reputational Quotient (RT) by measuring various characteristics — character, trajectory, trust, culture, ethics, citizenship, vision, growth and products and services. 

The Trump Organization scored a 52.9 out of 100, making it the only company to receive a “very poor” score, according to the rankings. FTX, Fox Corporation, Twitter and Facebook received the next lowest scores, rounding out the bottom five. 

The top-performing companies were Patagonia, Costco and John Deere. 

The Trump Organization, which has come under heavy legal scrutiny in the past couple years, scored last in each of the categories the poll measured. Among its rankings, the company performed best in vision, with a score of 58.6, and worst in trust, with a score of 50.1. 

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is pursuing a civil case against the organization, alleging the former president and his children — Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump — systematically inflated the company’s assets to receive loans on favorable terms and then deflated them for tax purposes. 

Trump sat for a deposition in the case for almost seven hours last month. He pleaded his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a deposition last year in the case. 

Allen Weisselberg, who served as the company’s chief financial officer, also pleaded guilty in August to charges of tax evasion following an investigation from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. He was sentenced to five months in prison but was released early last month for good behavior. 

The Trump Organization was subsequently found guilty in December of tax fraud, with much of prosecutors’ argument based on Weisselberg’s confession that he and other executives worked to conceal bonuses and perks from being considered taxable income for about a decade. 

The Axios poll was conducted from March 13-28 among 16,310 Americans.