Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Mr. Popular: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook Top List of Tech’s Most Likeable CEOs

Zuckerberg has a 48 percent favorability rating among registered voters.

AFP / Getty Images

This is fitting: The man who invented the “Like” has generated a lot of them in real life, too.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tops a recent poll of the most favorable tech CEOs, sporting a 48 percent favorability rating. Apple’s Tim Cook is second with 39 percent despite (or maybe thanks to?) an ongoing public battle with the FBI over user privacy, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is close behind with 38 percent. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, in the midst of a pretty public company turnaround effort, got 21 percent.

This is all according to Morning Consult, a media and analytics company that polled 1,935 registered voters earlier this week to get the results.

A 48 percent favorability rating isn’t bad for Zuckerberg. Remember when he had “I’m CEO, Bitch” business cards and a massive chip on his shoulder? That attitude and accompanying outside perception is long gone in Silicon Valley, especially within Facebook headquarters, and apparently it has trickled down to the general voting public, too. Here’s a New York Times piece from Saturday about Zuck’s influence on startup CEOs (spoiler: they love him).

But being likable doesn’t necessarily make you recognizable. Nearly a third of respondents “hadn’t heard of” Zuckerberg, and 44 percent said the same about Cook.

Oh, and 51 percent of voters think Apple should unlock the iPhone. Affirm CEO Max Levchin agrees.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh