Tag Archive for 'Small Business Advocate Poll'

Small Business Advocate Poll: Small Business Prospects over the Next Four Years

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on November 29, 2012
in Government and Regulations
. 0 Comments

The Question:
Please tell us how you feel about the prospects for your small business over the next four years based on the influence of this one fact: President Obama has been reelected.

14% - This result will be good for my business.

68% - This result will not be good for my business.

16% - It’s too soon to tell.

My Comments:
For the past four years, we’ve polled small business owners about their prospects during and following the Great Recession. We’ve also asked what they think about President Obama’s policies. Based on our polling, as well as other surveys result I’ve reported on my radio program, the majority of small business owners are not pro-Obama.

Nevertheless, with Obama’s 2nd term now a reality, we wanted to know how small business owners feel about this, so in our most recent poll we asked this question: “Please tell us how you feel about the prospects for your small business over the next four years based on the influence of this one fact: President Obama has been reelected.” Here’s what we learned:

Those who said, “This result will be good for my business,” represented 14% of our sample, with 16% reasoning that, “It’s too soon to tell.” But the big group - 70% - allowed that, “This result will not be good for my business.”

As I predicted last January, I still believe small business owners will not hold up growth plans for four more years regardless of who wins the election, but our survey would indicate that they will pursue opportunities with great caution and judiciousness, which I fear will not contribute to rapid economic recovery in 2013.

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This week on The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked more about the new issues small businesses will have to deal with in the new normal of the next four years, including many new regulations, diminished privacy and U.N. influence. Click here to download or listen.

Check out more of Jim’s great content HERE!

Take this week’s poll HERE!

Watch Jim’s videos HERE!

Small Business Advocate Poll: Game-changer?

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on October 8, 2012
in Government and Politics
. 0 Comments

Debates between presidential candidates aren’t always game-changers. But sometimes they are, like the one just competed.

It’s difficult to gauge whether people are surprised that Romney performed so commandingly, or that Obama came in third in a two-man debate. Either way, in terms of being a game-changer, this debate is being scored as one of the top three in more than a half-century.

We wanted to know what our audience’s expectations were for this debate, so in our online poll last week, we asked this question: “The first of three Presidential debates will take place this week. How will these events impact your vote?” Here’s what we learned:

Only 12% said the debate results would not change their plan to vote for the Obama/Biden ticket. The big number from our survey - 73% - said the debate would not change their vote for Romney/Ryan. Just 15% admitted that they thought the debates would influence their final decision.

If our audience is representative of the small business sector, it’s a solid Romney/Ryan constituency, which shouldn’t surprise anyone, least of all the Obama campaign. But with his poor debate performance this week, it can’t be good news for President Obama that 15% of our folks were looking forward to the debate for something to help them make their decision.

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Last week on The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked about the first presidential debate with Rich Galen, Republican strategist, publisher of the popular cyber-column, Mullings.com and frequent political talking head. Click on one of the links below to download or listen to what we had to say.

Who won the first Obama-Romney debate?

The Obama-Romney debate was beautifully unstructured

Was the first Obama-Romney debate a game changer?

Check out more great SBA content HERE!

Watch Jim’s videos HERE!

Take this week’s poll HERE!

Small Business Advocate Poll: Political conventions, Does anybody care?

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on September 7, 2012
in Government and Politics
. 0 Comments

The Question:
How much of the Republican Party Convention will you watch this week?

42% - As much as possible

32% - Probably just the last night

15% - None - conventions are no longer relevant

10% - Not interested in the Romney/Ryan message

My Comments:
The first political convention was held in 1766 to nominate a candidate for governor of Connecticut. The first convention to nominate a president was in 1831 held by the Mason Party, with Democrats and Republicans holding their first conventions in 1832.

Since the first presidential conventions - and for most of America’s political history - they served the purpose of selecting the nominee of each party, including many hotly contested and acrimonious events. For most of the past half century, however, conventions have served little more than to be a showcase for the incumbent and/or the last candidate standing in each party after the primary process - about 99% production and 1% nominating process.

Consequently, with the possibility of virtually no drama or surprises, conventions have become less of a big deal in America in the past generation. Indeed, where broadcast television networks once practiced the term they coined of “gavel to gavel” coverage, the big three - ABC, NBC and CBS - have reduced coverage from three or four hours a day for five convention days, to only the last hour each day.

We wanted to know how our small business audience felt about watching the GOP convention this year, so last week we asked this question: “How much of the Republican Party Convention will you watch this week?” Here’s what you told us.

One in ten of our respondents said, “Not interested in the Romney/Ryan message,” 15% said, “None - the conventions are no longer relevant,” and almost one third of our sample said, “Probably just the last night.” But the big number, 42%, said “As much as possible.”

This week the Democrats will stage their convention in Charlotte, N.C., where the Obama-Biden team will be nominated again. So our new poll asks the same question as last week, except for the party name change. Please make sure to register your answer.

It will be interesting to see how the new poll compares to last week’s response. I’ll have a final comment on both surveys next week. Stay tuned.

Check out more great SBA content HERE!

Watch Jim’s videos HERE!

Take this week’s poll HERE!

Small Business Advocate Poll: No poor man every gave me a job

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on July 27, 2012
in Government and Politics
. 3 Comments

The Question:
How do you feel about the fact that presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, is very wealthy?

22% - I’m concerned his wealth prevents him from connecting with average Americans.

78% - His wealth came from business experience, something America needs right now.

0% - Undecided

My Commentary:
Of course, it’s not shocking to learn that the two presidential candidates are resorting to negative ads against their opponents. It’s not for nothing that politics, it has been said, “ain’t bean bag,” or is a “blood sport.”

Of course, notwithstanding the 1804 duel in which VP Aaron Burr killed Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, that last reference has been metaphorical.

Another thing we’ve learned about negative ads is that they seem to work. What does that say about us? Merely an electoral proclivity, or an indictment of our society?

One of the negative strategies the Obama campaign has been using is to take shots at Mitt Romney’s wealth. The angle of attack is that such a wealthy person cannot connect with the workaday lives of the majority of Americans.

We wanted to know how our audience felt about Mitt Romney’s financial situation, so last week we asked this question: “How do you feel about the fact that presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, is very wealthy?” Here’s what you told us.

Just more than one-fifth of our sample said, “I’m concerned his wealth prevents him from connecting with average Americans. All the rest, 78%, allowed that Mitt Romney’s wealth, ” … came from business experience, something America needs right now.” Perhaps the most telling response was that no one was “Undecided.”

Of course, in America, especially in 2012, a campaign strategy attacking financial success might not have the desired response by the middle class and lower economic strata. This year, perhaps more than any in recent memory, that proverbial remark by a working class stiff, “No poor man ever gave me a job,” might be what more of us are thinking, rather than “he doesn’t connect with me”

Based on our poll, this seems to be true of small business owners.

Check out more great SBA content HERE!

Take this week’s poll HERE!

Small Business Advocate Poll: Are we wishing our lives away?

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on June 28, 2012
in Economy: National and Global and Politics
. 0 Comments

The Question:
How much do you think the economy is being affected by businesses and consumers waiting to see who the next president is?

2% - Not at all

74% - A lot

24% - Probably somewhat

My Commentary:
Just as it seemed we might be getting some wind under the wings of this economy, it looks like it’s starting to lose altitude. Of course, there are many reasons, including high energy prices, high unemployment, loss of confidence in big banks, and the crisis in the Eurozone, just to name a few.

But the elephant in economic recovery’s living room is presidential politics. Never in my life - not even when Carter ran for reelection in 1980 - has there been such anxiety about who was going to be the next president.

We wanted to know just how big this issue was, so last week we asked you this question: “How much do you think the economy is being affected by businesses and consumers waiting to see who the next president is?” Here’s what you said.

A tiny part of our respondents - 2% - said “Not at all,” and a little less than one in four said the election is “Somewhat” influencing economic decisions. But the big group - 74% - said election anxiety was affecting business and consumer buying decisions “a lot.”

A long time ago I made the decision not to wish my life away, so I don’t want to start now. But I’m afraid my vote on this one goes with the majority. I’m ready to get this election over.

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I talked about the economy and how it is affecting buying decisions by businesses and consumers on my radio show, The Small Business Advocate.  Click here to download or listen.

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!