Is There a Majority of Small Business Owners Ready to Vote for One Presidential Candidate?
For the “everyday” small business owner, trying to figure out which presidential candidate most small business owners support, or even if one candidate has more support from the business community over the other, can be a fruitless endeavor.
While we may not be able to come up with an inarguable percentage, going on a Google safari does provide us with food for thought.
While their statistics may not completely represent the small business as a whole due to the fact that they’re a membership organization and therefore might be “preaching to the choir”, the National Federation posts some interesting statistics on their home page. For instance:
- According to a November 2010 member ballot, 93% of NFIB members supported repealing the healthcare law.
- 78% of NFIB members supported a moratorium on new regulations that cost more than $100 million.
- According to the latest NFIB member ballot, 90% of small business owners support a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
- The cost of fuel ranks as the third-most important problem facing small business owners. Electricity costs rank 12th.
- 91% of NFIB members said that Congress should permanently increase the dollar amount of equipment purchases a small business can expense.
- According to a recent NFIB ballot, unreasonable government regulations rank as the fifth-most important concern facing small business.
The page is formatted in three columns, with the statistics in the middle and a description of Romney’s and Obama’s positions on either side. Follow this link to NFIB where you can draw your own conclusions.
On the other hand, we’ve got the Small Business Majority another membership organization, who report the following statistics based on their research and surveys:
- Only a third of small business owners want the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act; a plurality of 50% would like it upheld, with minor or no changes.
- 50% of small business owners support clean energy and climate legislation.
- Small business owners see regulations as a necessary part of a modern economy and believe they can live with them if they’re fair and reasonable: 86% of small business owners agree some regulation of business is necessary for a modern economy, and 93% of them agree their business can live with some regulation if it is fair, manageable and reasonable.
- The majority of small businesses support raising taxes on high-income earners; nearly 9 in 10 oppose raising taxes on the middle class: Small business owners recognize the gravity of our budget crisis: 52% agree that while no one likes to raise taxes, we should raise taxes on the wealthiest 2%.
The above statistics are pulled from a variety of reports that can be easily located on the Small Business Majority website. However, it’s likely you can see where we’re going with this comparison of statistics provided by these two organizations, it is difficult, if not impossible, to accurately assess who the majority of American small business owners are likely to vote for. The NFIB endorses candidates in both federal and state elections, but does not provide an endorsement for either Obama or Romney. The Small Business Majority does not appear to provide endorsements of political candidates. However, it is worth a visit to both sites to make your own personal determination as to whether any potential bias exists.
Guest Authored
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
Sean Murray is the President and Chief Editor of deBanked and the founder of the Broker Fair Conference. Connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on twitter. You can view all future deBanked events here.
