Survey: Small business owners overwhelmingly back Trump

FPI / March 10, 2020

Content with President Donald Trump's economic policy, a large majority of small business owners said they would vote to re-elect the president.

A survey conducted by the Job Creators Network (JCN) showed that small business owners — employers with less than 500 employees — favor Trump over Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders by large margins.

“When asked who they would vote for if the election was held tomorrow and the Democratic candidate was Joe Biden, more than 73 percent said they would vote for Donald Trump,” the survey said. That number jumped to 77 percent who said they would vote to re-elect Trump if Sanders was the Democratic candidate.

“The results speak for themselves: small business owners are thriving and attribute much of their continued success to the pro-growth policies pushed by the current administration,” said Alfredo Ortiz, President and CEO of the Job Creators Network, in a press release.

JNC also asked the 703 local business owners how they think the Trump administration has handled economic issues; 66 percent of the small business owners responded with “good” or “great.”

The survey found that 79.4 percent want free market-based healthcare as opposed to Medicare for All or a Public Option.

“Additionally, the support for free market healthcare reform aligns with recent efforts of the Job Creators Network Foundation and Physicians for Reform,” Ortiz said. “The Healthcare for You framework aims to inject choice and competition into the healthcare market–giving Americans the decision-making power they want and deserve. Entrepreneurs don’t want a progressive or socialist playing puppet master with businesses and the economy. The free market should be doing the heavy lifting.”

When asked what the top three areas of concern are for them, 56.7 percent of the group of small business owners said high taxes, another 39.8 percent said healthcare, and 37.6 said the coronavirus concerns them.

Trump said he would discuss a payroll tax cut and financial assistance for hourly wage workers with members of the Republican-led Senate on Tuesday as a response to the growing coronavirus outbreak and its effects on the economy.

The tax cut, Trump said at a press conference Monday evening, will be "relief, very substantial relief. That's a big number."

"We're also going to be talking about hourly wage earners getting help so that they can be in a position where they're not going to ever miss a paycheck," he said.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at the press event that the administration would seek to provide aid to workers forced to stay home because of quarantines or to provide care for relatives.

Trump also said his administration would be offering financial assistance to the travel industry as well as "creating loans for small businesses."

Free Press International