Investment manager Vanguard released data from its Investor Choice proxy voting choice program for 2026, revealing that the firm’s ESG-focused voting option remains by far the most popular among younger investors, and that younger investors and female investors are selecting ESG-focused voting policies at significantly higher rates than their older and male counterparts, respectively.
Vanguard launched its Investor Choice program in early 2023, offering investors the ability to select from a range of policy options to meet a series of preferences. The program expanded significantly in 2026, growing from around $1 trillion in eligible assets to $4 trillion, and with 507,000 investors participating this year, up from 82,000 in 2025. Vanguard expects to expand the program further in 2027 to all U.S. equity index funds, increasing eligible assets to $8 trillion.
Policy options available through the program include the “Company Board-Aligned Policy,” voting in accordance with the recommendations made by the portfolio company’s board of directors; “Glass Lewis ESG Policy,” voting in accordance with the recommendations of Glass Lewis’s thematic ESG Voting Policy, which follows the view that investment returns can be enhanced through a focus on disclosing and mitigating risks related to ESG issues; “Fund Proxy Policy,” voted in accordance with the proxy voting policy that has been adopted by the Fund’s Trustees; “Mirror Voting Policy,” which casts votes in approximately the same proportions as votes cast by other shareholders of the security, and; “Egan-Jones Wealth-Focused Policy,” added in 2025, which rejects ESG proposals “unless they directly contribute to revenue generation at the company receiving the proposal.”
Vanguard’s new report revealed that the Glass Lewis ESG policy was by far the most popular in 2026 with younger investors, with 38.8% of investors under the age of 30 selecting the policy, and 36.3% of those between the ages of 31 – 45, followed in both groups by the Fund Proxy policy at 29.3% and 29.7%, respectively.
Younger investors also selected the ESG policy at around twice the rate of older investors, with 19.4% of the age 46 – 61 group and 16.2% of the 62 – 80 group choosing the policy.
Female investors also selected the ESG policy at substantially higher rates at 25%, compared with their male counterparts at 15%, according to the report, according to the report.
In the 2026 season, the share of investors on an asset-weighted basis selecting the Glass Lewis ESG Policy decreased to 12% from 18%, although Vanguard said that this change likely reflects the shift in shareholder mix resulting from the addition of new funds to the program, noting, for example, that its ESG U.S. Stock ETF has been in the program since 2023, during which time the fund’s investors have increased their selection of the ESG policy option to 78% in 2026 from 73% in 2023, even as the number of policy options has increased.
John Galloway, Global Head of Investor Engagement at Vanguard, said:
“Investor Choice is grounded in the foundational belief that investors have diverse perspectives on corporate governance, and those perspectives deserve to be heard. More than half a million investors have chosen to participate in Investor Choice this year, demonstrating strong demand and reinforcing the importance of giving index fund investors a voice.”
