Small Business
Are Small Business Owners Losing Faith In Presidential Candidates?
A new survey suggests that as the presidential primary progresses, small business owners are losing faith in candidates on both sides of the aisle.
Mar. 31, 2016
A new survey suggests that as the presidential primary progresses, small business owners are losing faith in candidates on both sides of the aisle.
The survey is the second from OnDeck, an online small business lender, examining the attitudes of small business owners tied to the 2016 presidential election and reveals that 34 percent do not have confidence in any of the current candidates, up from 25 percent in a survey taken last fall.
With declining faith in the current crop of presidential candidates, small business owners surveyed expressed nostalgia for a past U.S. president they deemed a friend to small business: Ronald Reagan. The 40th President was overwhelmingly selected by more than four in ten small business owners (42 percent) as the best president for small business, trailed by Bill Clinton (17 percent) and President Barack Obama (14 percent).
According to the OnDeck survey, small business owners are looking to candidates this election season to address three critical issues: economic growth (67 percent), tax policy (46 percent) and healthcare costs (35 percent). In order to help small businesses in the near term, some respondents would like to see the federal government cut taxes (36 percent), reduce healthcare costs (19 percent), invest in infrastructure improvement (13 percent), and cease increases in the minimum wage (13 percent).
“Small business owners are keenly interested in this year’s presidential election as they grapple with some big issues tied to economic growth and health care costs,” said James Hobson, Chief Operating Officer at OnDeck. “Given their active participation in past presidential elections, candidates would be wise to engage this vast voting constituency of 28 million small business owners.”
Small Business Owners Get Out the Vote
The OnDeck survey indicates that as a population, small business owners are actively engaged in the electoral process. In fact, nine in 10 business owners say they voted in the last presidential election. Nearly all small business owner respondents (95 percent) are registered voters, three in 10 made a donation to a Democrat or Republican candidate in the last election and a quarter have already made a political donation during this primary election season.
When asked to select the presidential contender who they think has the best interests of small business in mind, Donald Trump (37 percent), Bernie Sanders (28 percent), and Hillary Clinton (16 percent) topped the list.