President Joe Biden's approval rating inched up in a CNBC/SurveyMonkey poll of 2,597 small business owners conducted in November.
According to the survey, conducted between Nov. 9-16, Biden's job approval rating increased among the public from 41% to 45%, the highest approval rating the president has earned since his high of 59% when he took office in January 2021.
The 34% approval of small business owners is also the highest ranking for Biden after continuously dropping during his tenure, with 65% disapproving of his performance in office.
The increase in the small business rating comes from 83% of respondents who identify as Democrats, who 31% identify as independents and 8% who identify as Republicans, an increase in two of the categories of around 2 points since the last quarter, according to the poll.
The poll reports a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
Other key poll findings include 47% reporting that they see the current business climate as "middling," with another 32% saying it is good and 21% believing it is bad.
Most respondents said the new Republican-led House and Democratic Senate should concentrate on easing inflation with a plurality of 47% wanting that issue tackled, but around 60% think that their business will see negative impacts from government policies regarding both taxes and regulations.
Business owners are also skeptical about government policies regarding trade and technological innovation, with 43% believing trade policies will have a negative effect and 48% believing it will not have any impact on their business, and another 52% believing innovations in technology will have no effect on their businesses, according to the poll.
Fifty-seven percent say immigration policy will have no effect, while 33% predict those policies will produce a negative impact.
Three quarters of those surveyed, 76%, say rising interest rates will have a net-negative impact on their businesses, with 41% reporting they will see a "major" negative effect and 35% saying the impact will be a "minor" negative for their operation.
Another three-quarters of respondents, 75%, said their business was seeing an increase in the cost of supplies; 55% reported supply chain disruptions; and 45% said they were experiencing rising wages for workers, according to the poll.
Overall, almost half of respondents, 49%, said the changes in government coming as a result of the midterm elections will not influence their business, with the other half almost split evenly between 25% saying the effect will be positive and 24% saying it will be negative.
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