Tag Archive for 'election'

Small Business Advocate Poll: Romney and Ryan

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on August 23, 2012
in Government and Politics
. 0 Comments

The Question:
Mitt Romney has chosen Wisconsin Congressman, Paul Ryan, as his VP running mate. What do you think about this decision?

71% - I Great choice! Ryan will energize the GOP base and attract independents.

18% - Bad choice for Romney - good choice for Obama.

11% - Doesn’t matter - the VP candidate isn’t important.

My Comments:
One of the most widely speculated upon and most anxiously awaited announcements for the past several months, has been who Mitt Romney would choose as his Vice Presidential running-mate.

The short list included Senators Rob Portman of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida, and Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan. Each gentleman has critical credentials - both politically and tactically - that placed them on this short list, but none had a longer list of plusses and minuses on their balance sheet than Ryan.

Consequently, when Romney announced that Ryan was his choice, it was seen as bold and gutsy by some and suicidal by others. Because the good Congressman’s thought-leadership resulted in positions and proposals for how to get America’s fiscal house in order, conservatives call him hero and liberals call him dangerous.

We wanted to know what our small business audience thought about this pick, so last week in our online poll, we asked this question: “Mitt Romney has chosen Wisconsin Congressman, Paul Ryan, as his VP running mate. What do you think about this decision?” Here’s what we learned:

One-in-six of our respondents said, “Bad choice for Romney - good choice for Obama,” while a little more than one-in-ten allowed that it, “Doesn’t matter - the VP candidate isn’t important.” But the big group, coming in a 71%, said, “Great choice! Ryan will energize the GOP base and attract independents.”

There are two things that Romney’s opponents are worried about with regard to Ryan: 1) He’s VERY smart; and 2) he’s very likeable. Apparently even those who vehemently disagree with his positions like him, including President Clinton.

Since Ryan is from a state that hasn’t helped a Republican presidential candidate in almost 30 years, this choice cannot be seen as a politically strategic one, as the Hispanic Floridian, Rubio, would have been. So that means Ryan was a tactical choice - based more on substance than positioning.

Unlike the 11% of our sample who discount the VP impact, I predict that over the next 11 weeks Ryan’s participation will move the electorate needle. Watching which way it moves will be interesting political theater.

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Yesterday on The Small Business Advocate Show I talked more about Paul Ryan as Romney’s VP choice and the impact on the election. Take a few minutes to download or listen and let me know if you agree.

Check out more great SBA content HERE!

Take this week’s poll HERE!

Small Business Advocate Poll: Don’t mess with small business

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on August 9, 2012
in Economy: National and Global and Politics
. 0 Comments

The Question:
As a small business owner, which political party do you think is more closely aligned with your future success?

8% - Democrats

62% - Republican

17% - Libertarian

13% - None of the above

My Commentary:
Those who are aligned with the Democrat Party came in at 8%. The big number, 62%, came from our respondents who claim the Republican Party. Libertarians represented 17% of our sample. Thirteen percent allowed they couldn’t find a political home with any of these three.

Libertarians have many political differences with Republicans. However, when it comes to policies that impact operating a business, like taxes, regulations, trade, etc., Libertarians and Republicans are usually not far apart. So, if our audience is representative of the small business sector - and I think it is - it’s reasonable to predict that this sector will break significantly for Mitt Romney on November 6.

Consequently, when the President makes statements like, “You didn’t build that,” it probably won’t hurt him too much with the small business sector, because most of them are not likely to vote for him anyway. But there is another potential effect to consider.

Polls indicate that small business owners are highly regarded by Americans. So the question is: How many independent voters will hold the President’s comments, practices and policies that seem to be unfriendly to small business, against him? It may not be many, but in battleground states, like Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, it might be enough to change the outcome.

These are the kinds of nuances in the ten battleground states that will likely decide who the next president is.

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This week on The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked more about what you said about which political party you believe is more aligned with your small business’s ability to succeed. Click here to download or listen.

Check out more great SBA content HERE!

Take this week’s poll HERE!

Small Business Advocate Poll: How will Obamacare impact your small Business?

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on July 10, 2012
in Politics and Universal health care
. 1 Comment

The Question:
The Supreme Court has upheld most of Obamacare, how will this decision impact your small business?

44% - This will hurt my business

4% - This will be good for my business

42% - I don’t know, but I’m afraid of Obamacare

10% - I don’t know, but I’m not worried about it

My Comments:
Obamacare has survived a Supreme Court challenge and been judged to be constitutional. We wanted to know what our small business audience thought about that, so last week, in our online poll, we asked this question: “The Supreme Court has upheld most of Obamacare, how will this decision impact your small business?” Here’s what we learned.

Just 4% of our sample said, “This will be good for my business,” while 10% said “I don’t know, but I’m not worried about it.” But 44% reported that Obamacare, “will hurt my business,” and 42% allowed, “I don’t know, but I’m afraid of Obamacare.”

Obamacare is the law of the land, unless and until the next Congress and a new president repeals it. In fact, part of the narrative in Chief Justice Roberts’ ruling indicated that the ultimate decision about such a sweeping law should rest with the electorate.

There are 26 million small business owners in the U.S. and another 70 million small business employees. That’s a lot of votes that could be influenced by the anti-Obamacare sentiment - 86% - demonstrated in our poll.

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I’ve talked to several people in the last couple of weeks on the impact of the Supreme Court’s Obamacare decision on the economy, including Michael Reagan, son of Ronald Reagan and author of The New Reagan Revolution; and Barbara Weltman, small business attorney and author of J.K.Lasser’s Small Business Taxes. Click on the links below to download or listen.

Gobsmacked by SCOTUS with Jim Blasingame

Michael Reagan on the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare with Michael Reagan

Obamacare my be constitutional, but businesses still uncertain with Barbara Weltman

What will Obamacare cost your small business? with Barbara Weltman

Check out more great SBA content HERE!

Take this week’s poll HERE!

Small Business Advocate Poll: Is Obama Watching the Same Ballgame?

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on June 22, 2012
in Economy: National and Global and Politics
. 2 Comments

The Question:
In a press conference recently, President Obama reported that, “The private sector is doing fine.” What do you think about this appraisal?

0% - He’s right. The economy is fine.

68% - He’s wrong. What game is he watching?

32% - It’s not all bad, but it’s not good, either.

My Commentary:
We’ve all said things we would like to retrace, perhaps as soon as the words clear our lips. No doubt this happened to President Obama last week when he said, now famously, “The private sector is doing fine.”

I was watching his speech as he said those words and, frankly, my jaw dropped. Was it just an ill-phrased, extemporaneous thought? Were those words written for him to read? Does he really believe that?

For the past two years, periodically we’ve polled our audience about the condition of the economy. The results have pretty much been the same every time: less than one-fourth are doing well, less than one-fourth are not doing well, and the half in the middle are doing just okay. That means about three-fourths of our respondents have consistently reported less-than-desirable business conditions.

But when we polled our online audience recently about their response to President Obama’s appraisal of the private sector economy, not one person agreed with him. Not even, apparently, the one-fourth of our respondents who have consistently reported favorable business conditions. Almost seven of ten of our sample said, “He’s wrong. What game is he watching?” And the rest, 32%, said, “It’s not all bad, but it’s not good, either.”

There are only three reasons why the President would say something like this at this point in time: 1) He misspoke; 2) his remark was out of context; or 3) he is out of touch with the economic reality. Frankly, since he is very smart, a pretty good politician and has a world-class political team around him, it’s difficult to imagine that he would misspeak or not avoid being taken out of context on THE issue that is likely to decide the election.

One thing is certain: President Obama has now burned the first two excuses. From now to November 6, voter scrutiny regarding the economy will be based on one question: Is he watching the same ballgame as the rest of us?

Check out more great SBA content HERE!

Take this week’s poll HERE!

Small Business Advocate Poll: How will you vote for Congressional candidates?

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on May 23, 2012
in Government and Politics
. 0 Comments

The Question:
In the upcoming election, how will you vote for Congressional candidates?

4% - More likely to vote for an established incumbent with influence

42% - More likely to vote to send new representation to Washington

55% - Some of both

My Commentary:
One of the great political debates in the United States in recent years is how much of the problems in Washington are actually caused by the people we sent to solve the problems - the entrenched political class. There are a number of groups, especially on the Republican side of the aisle, who are dedicated to kicking out these incumbents and electing replacements who are not part of the entitled political gentry, and who will work and vote to create real solutions that fit our 21st century challenges.

We wanted to know how our small business audience was thinking about the political class vs new blood issue, so last week we asked this question: “In the upcoming election, how will you vote for Congressional candidates?” Here’s what we learned:

Over half of our respondents, 55%, said they were likely to vote for both incumbents and new faces, while more than four-of-ten of our sample said they were “more likely to vote to send new representation to Washington. And only 5% said they were more likely to “vote for an established incumbent with influence.”

That’s 95% of our audience either inclined or committed to make changes in Washington this year. If our audience is representative of America, and I think it absolutely is, these results should cause some projectile sweat to break out among the political class. Indeed, we’re already seeing the effects of this anti-incumbent movement with the retirement of a number of senior members of Congress, as well as a number being defeated by their own party in the primaries.

America has many problems, but it makes me feel better about our future when so many are demanding performance by working to take back our government from the entitled political class through our beautiful political process.

God bless America.

Check out more great SBA content HERE!

Take this week’s poll HERE!

If the Presidential election was held today, who would you vote for?

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on July 21, 2011
in Politics
. 0 Comments

One of the annoying things about being a citizen of the United States is also one of the things that makes being an American so great: our political process.

But with regard to the annoying bits, perhaps the most irritating is what seems like very little relief from presidential campaigning. It’s as if the occupant of the White House is always campaigning, while the opposition party starts its run against the president at least two years before the election.

It seems to take the first year of the opposition party’s effort to unseat the president just to eliminate the also-rans - who never were serious candidates - during which time the serious players hone their campaigning skills. By the year of the election, there are usually a small handful that duke it out during the primary phase until finally, one is victorious and gets the nomination.

So here we are in that opposition party phase and in most polls, former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, is currently seen as the Republican front-runner. Since there are at present upwards of a dozen Republican hopefuls - too many to list - we decided to see how Romney stacks up at this moment against President Obama, so in last week’s poll, we asked, “If the Presidential election was held today, who would you vote for?”

There are many political experts who think Romney cannot beat Obama in the next election, but based on our respondents, these experts may be wrong. A little more than 60% of our sample said they would choose Romney over Obama at this time. The numbers for the president looked bleak, with only 14% saying Obama should get a second term. Those who said they were “Undecided,” came in at 24%, which could also mean that they would have chosen another Republican candidate if we had listed them all. We’ll keep polling you on this topic as the Republican field narrows over the next year.

As you consider who will lead the U.S. government from 2013-2016, please consider supporting the candidate that is the most favorable for small business. Because, as you’ve likely heard me say before, what is good for your small business is good for America - and the world.

Click here to listen to my conversations on the 2012 elections and small business with smarter people than me, like Steve Forbes and Grace-Marie Turner.