For the 2025 proxy season, the largest US asset managers increased their support for management resolutions, while European shareholders were more likely to oppose management resolutions.
Morningstar’s latest report, US Proxy-Voting Trends: 2025 in Review analysed proxy-voting records from 50 major US equity and allocation managers in the Morningstar US large-mid cap index over the past three years.
The report also reviewed votes by eight European asset managers and 601 US sustainable funds.
Key findings on the US 2025 proxy season reveal that there was a slight increase in shareholder support for management resolutions: with average support rose to 95.6% in 2025 from 95.0% in 2024 and 95.1% in 2023.
Average support for shareholder resolutions on governance remained steady at around 30%.
Meanwhile, average support for environmental and social, or E&S, shareholder resolutions fell from 18.8% in the 2023 proxy year to 11.6% in 2025.
Votes by the top 10 US managers of equity and allocation fund assets were more supportive of management compared with the other 40 US firms.
Voting decisions by US sustainable funds showed much lower support for management resolutions and much higher support for E&S shareholder resolutions compared with the US firms overall.
European firms dissented from the management view more often than any of the US peer groups, reflecting a transatlantic gap in voting patterns.
US sustainable funds also supported a higher-than-average proportion of shareholder resolutions, with a less steep decline in support from 41.2% in 2023 to 36.9% in 2025.
The European asset managers Morningstar reviewed backed a much higher proportion of shareholder proposals than the US firms, but with a steep decline in average support from 60.3% in the 2023 proxy year to 46.7% in 2025.
“While it’s often believed that proxy advisers have a major influence on voting, our study reveals that managers are actually making independent decisions, as evidenced by the growing shareholder support for management resolutions,” said Lindsey Stewart, director of institutional investor content at Morningstar.
Stewart noted another interesting aspect of the research. “Some critics have also claimed that preventing the Big 3 – BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard – from voting would lead to less activism at shareholder meetings. However, 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.
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