Survey: Small Business Owners Unsure Who To Back For President, Hungry For Details On Issues Affecting Them

Many small business owners are not pleased with how candidates have addressed issues that could affect them.

Small business voters could majorly impact who wins the 2024 Presidential Election.

At the same time, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump may have trouble convincing entrepreneurs who they should vote for as they prepare to face off.

A whopping 96% of small business owners report they are likely to vote this November.

However, 20% of them report that they have not determined who they will be back for the nation’s next president, according to a survey from Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Small Businesses Voices. About 1,260 small business owners were surveyed in April 2024 from 47 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam. That means proprietors are more undecided than the reported 12% of the overall public.

The survey indicated that 55% of the owners are dissatisfied with how candidates have been centering on minor business issues, versus only 27% stating they are satisfied. More specifically, 71% reported inflationary pressures have increased in their businesses from three months ago. And 49% disclosed that they have had to boost the prices of goods or services.

Further, entrepreneurs surveyed shared that rising costs in several areas greatly affect their business costs as owners. For instance, 81% point to higher labor costs, 67% to increasing cost of goods, 63% to higher expenses for employee benefits and health insurance, 57% to surging cost of accessing capital, and 48% to increasing cost of rent.

“America’s small business owners today are experiencing operating costs that are increasingly unaffordable,” Jessica Johnson-Cope, CEO & president of the Bronx, New York-based Johnson Security Bureau, told Goldman Sachs.

She added, “Small business owners are resilient, and most are enduring despite the challenges. As campaign season kicks off, small business owners want policymakers and candidates to focus on issues that improve the small business climate because small business is America’s future.”

Another report revealed that Black voters have a greater certainty about Biden than Trump about having the needed attributes for re-election. Some 55% of Black voters contend that it is essential to know who wins.

Interestingly, about 49% of Black voters indicated they would replace Trump and Biden with different candidates if they could.