Small businesses favor the Republican ticket of Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan by a margin of 51 percent versus 38 percent for President Barack Obama/Vice President Joe Biden, according to a national poll released Tuesday.
The survey for Wave Accounting, a large provider of accounting and payroll software for small businesses, showed that a desire for less red tape and better employee health care options were top issues cited by respondents.
The survey focused on U.S. businesses with nine employees or less. “This group makes up 95 percent of businesses in the U.S., yet their voices are badly underrepresented in media and politics,” said Kirk Simpson, CEO of Wave Accounting.
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Key findings included:
• Reducing government bureaucracy was the top issue for Republican-voting respondents, with 90 percent citing it at the top of their concerns.
• Healthcare options for small businesses were the top concern for Democratic-voting respondents, with 77 percent designating it most important.
• Small businesses that favored Romney/Ryan held a 50 percent-39 percent lead over Obama/Biden in swing states crucial to the election.
• Support for the Republican ticket was strongest in the South, and support for the Democratic ticket strongest in the Northeast.
• Undecided voters stood at 5 percent of respondents, with the greatest numbers found in the Northeast and West.
The Wave survey was conducted Aug. 15-20, prior to the Republican and Democratic national conventions. The final sample size was 1,331 respondents. Wave said the margin of error was plus or minus 2.7 percent.
In a separate survey also released Tuesday, U.S. small business sentiment rose in August for the first time in four months, Reuters reported.
The National Federation of Independent Business said its optimism index rose 1.7 points to 92.9 last month, as more owners forecast better conditions and increased sales after the Nov. 6 elections.
However, the NFIB also said most owners still did not believe the time was ripe to expand operations.
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