Small-Business Owners Say Candidates Fail to Address Issues

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey finds that half of small-business owners say the outcome of the presidential election will have a major impact on their small business. At the same time, fewer than three in 10 (28%) say the presidential candidates are discussing the issues most important to them as small-business owners.

	%
Major impact	50
Minor impact	23
Not much impact at all	23
April 4-8, 2016
Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index

	%
Yes	28
No	69
April 4-8, 2016
Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index

These results are based on interviews conducted April 4-8 as part of the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index, with a special focus on the ways in which small-business owners view the presidential election, the candidates and the issues.

In addition to the 50% who say the election will have a major impact on their small business, another 23% say it will have a minor impact, leaving 23% who say it will have not much impact at all. The 28% who say that the candidates are discussing the issues most important to them as a small-business owner is much lower than the 58% of national adults in a Gallup Poll who were asked a similar question in mid-April about the issues most important to them.

Business owners are paying especially close attention to the election. A total of 87% of owners say they are following the election either "very closely" (56%) or "somewhat closely" (31%), higher than what Gallup typically finds among national adults.

In addition to the widely held belief that the candidates are not focusing enough on the issues important to them, small-business owners are also split on how well they comprehend the candidates' positions. Overall, 79% of small-business owners say they understand the candidates' positions on issues that would affect small businesses "extremely," "very" or "somewhat" well -- although only 47% put their level of understanding in the first two of these categories.

These findings suggest that small-business owners are keenly interested in the election, and a significant number believe that the election outcome will have a direct bearing on their business. However, the prevailing sentiment is that candidates are not adequately focused on the issues small-business owners think are most important.

The Most Important Campaign Issues for Small-Business Owners

Given the conviction of many small-business owners that the candidates are not talking about the issues that are most important to them, the question becomes one of ascertaining exactly what those specific issues are. To that end, the survey included an open-ended question asking owners to name the issues they would like candidates to focus on in the campaign. The results, displayed in the accompanying table, show that owners would most like the candidates to address how they would handle taxes that affect small businesses. Owners' next-most frequently mentioned issues are the economy, healthcare and jobs, followed by the impact of government regulations, and the desire for a general focus on small-business owners.

	Mentioning%
Taxes	22
Economy	12
Healthcare	9
Jobs/employment	7
Small-business focus	7
Government regulations	7
National debt/spending	4
National security/terrorism	3
Immigration	3
Truth/honesty/good leadership	3
Government unity	3
Trade (import and export)	2
Financial stability/sustainability	2
Minimum wage	2
Welfare/socialism	1
Education	1
Other	5
None/nothing	1
Don't know/refused	6
April 4-8, 2016
Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index

Owners were also asked in a separate sequence of questions to rate the importance of 15 specific issues to their small business when the new president -- whoever he or she should be -- takes office.

The percentage of those rating the issues as "extremely" or "very" important ranged from 83% for issues relating to the small-business implications of the tax code, tax regulations and tax rates, to 40% for the president's actions relating to environmental regulations and climate change.

Issues rated as extremely or very important by two-thirds or more of small-business owners, in addition to taxes, include economic policies relating to small businesses, healthcare, actions that would increase consumer confidence and terrorism/national security. In addition to climate change, other issues at the low end of the ranking included presidential actions relating to the Small Business Administration, the minimum wage and education.

	Extremely important%	Very important%	Somewhat important%	Not very important%	Not at all important%
Actions relating to changes in the tax code, tax regulations and tax rates for small businesses	34	49	14	2	1
Actions relating to economic policies that affect small-business owners	30	47	18	3	1
Actions relating to healthcare and the current healthcare law	33	40	17	6	3
Actions relating to the confidence consumers have in the economy	26	43	24	4	2
Actions relating to terrorism and national security	29	38	20	8	5
Actions relating to trade laws and regulations that could affect small businesses	22	42	22	10	3
Actions relating to job creation	22	41	22	9	6
Actions that could impact oil prices or energy costs	21	40	27	7	4
Actions relating to government regulations of banks	19	36	28	10	6
Actions relating to federal spending on infrastructure such as roads and bridges	18	36	29	11	6
Actions relating to immigration	20	33	22	14	10
Actions relating to education	16	35	29	13	7
Actions on increasing the minimum wage	20	30	23	15	11
Actions relating to the SBA or Small Business Administration	16	32	33	11	7
Actions relating to environmental regulations/climate change	15	25	30	17	12
April 4-8, 2016
Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews with 600 U.S. small-business owners in all 50 states, conducted April 4-8, 2016. The margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

For more information about Wells Fargo Works for Small Business, visit WellsFargoWorks.com. Follow us on Twitter @WellsFargoWorks. Learn more about how the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index works.

For more information, discover the Wells Fargo Works press release and infographic.