By the numbers: Guns, abortion, immigration and nationalism are among the most controversial issues for companies to take a stand on, according to a Morning Consult poll, "Corporate Social Responsibility in the Trump Era."

• It's less controversial for brands to take a stand on civil rights, racial equality, criminal justice reform, affirmative action and LGBTQ rights, the poll found.

Brands with the best reputations among consumers are ones that stand for issues, regardless of whether those issues are considered liberal or progressive, according to an Axios/Harris 100 poll in March.

Certain industries and companies have chosen to rally around different issues, with varying outcomes.

• Guns: Companies are facing pressure to cut ties with the gun industry as mass shootings proliferate. And while Walmart raised the age limit for gun sales in response to the Parkland shooting last year, employees are calling on the company to do more after a shooting in one of its stores killed 22 people.
• Abortion: Hollywood heavyweights have threatened to boycott film production in Georgia if a "fetal heartbeat" abortion ban signed into law by the governor this year is allowed to take effect.
• Energy and climate: Amazon's employees used their weight as shareholders for the first time this year to demand changes to the company's climate policy. Ahead of Amazon's annual investor meeting, thousands of workers signed a letter to Jeff Bezos asking that the company stop offering cloud services to the oil and gas industries.
• Immigration: Workers at companies like Google, Whole Foods and Ogilvy are demanding that their employers stop providing services to ICE and its contractors at immigration detention centers.
• LGBTQ rights: Activists threatened to boycott Equinox, which has a policy of LGBTQ inclusion, after one of its big investors, Stephen Ross, threw a fundraiser for the president. Equinox, in a statement following the backlash, distanced itself from Ross.

Be smart: When it comes to taking a stand on issues, younger, liberal Americans are more likely to want corporations to get involved, according to the poll.

• This is why brands like Nike that cater to younger, more diverse customers have chosen to take strong stands on social issues.

Yes, but: Companies are still falling short of expectations. According to a recent global survey by Edelman, there's still a big gap between what employees want their employer to take a stand on and what the company is actually doing.

The bottom line: Big businesses have historically avoided wading into political drama. But as issues become more politicized during the Trump Administration, most corporate leaders are finding it impossible not to get involved.

Driving the news: Employees at Google circulated a petition Wednesday demanding that Google publicly commit not to support government agencies that engage in practices they feel amount to "human rights abuses."

• The petition calls for Google not to provide any "infrastructure, funding, or engineering resources, directly or indirectly" for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). They're worried because CBP is looking for a contractor to provide cloud computing services.
• Whole Foods employees demanded this week that Amazon, their parent company, cut ties with Palantir, a government contractor that's being called out for its work with ICE.
• Ogilvy, a global PR agency, was forced to confront angry employees at a town hall meeting last month over a multi-million dollar contract with CBP. The agency's CEO wrote to staffers in late July that the agency would continue to do work with the agency, despite employee backlash.

Between the lines: Even companies that are far removed from the government are under fire for ties to immigration.

• In June, Wayfair workers protested the company's furniture sales to an immigration detention camp. The tension between employees and the company spooked investors too, with Wayfair's stock taking a hit as employees protested.
• Axios' Ina Fried reported in July that a nonprofit group slammed Palantir for its ties to government agencies in a study that details all corporate ties to CBP vendors.

Be smart: More than ever, there is pressure on corporations and their leadership to stand up for social issues that their costumers and employees care about. For instance, in recent months, several banks — including Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo and SunTrust — said they would no longer lend money to companies that run immigrant detention centers.

• Yes, but: That pressure companies face can be problematic for brands that need to serve a wide range of customers and employ diverse workforces. Advocates are pushing to hold companies accountable for their policies by encouraging employee and consumer activism on social media, but some employees feel that the pressure is alienating conservatives.

The big picture: Several issues have become divisive for companies and their workforces under the last two years of the administration, according to a Morning Consult survey.

• Guns have become more contentious in the wake of high-profile mass shootings like Parkland. Walmart employees staged a walkout last week to protest gun sales after two mass shootings left dozens dead in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio.
• Restrictive abortion bills at the state level have forced many companies to change their policies or pull their business from certain states. Earlier this year, Hollywood heavyweights like Netflix, Disney, NBC and WarnerMedia all considered film production boycotts if Georgia upheld a controversial "fetal heartbeat" abortion ban.

Go deeper:

• CEOs under more pressure to save society
• What Corporate America is doing about guns
• Social good is the new sales pitch
• Radioactive presidency: Trump is poison for brands