Politicians, Pollsters Snubbing Small Business

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By JOHN KABATECK

I watched with great interest last week as the political pundits and national news anchors focused on the primary results from Ohio and Texas. From CNN to Fox News, media outlets broke down who voted for each candidate and why. The term “voting bloc” was not only used to analyze participation by age, gender, race and dozens of other demographics, but also to demonstrate the political might of traditional groups such as unions and military veterans.

However, one voting bloc overlooked by the pundits and pontificators was small business owners and employees, which make up over half of the workforce in California. And they had a huge presence at the polls.

It’s probably not surprising to learn that 81 percent of small business owners and 52 percent of small business employees polled on Super Tuesday say the presidential candidates have not sufficiently addressed the issues that are important to them. As the California state director for the National Federation of Independent Business/California, I’ve spent my career listening to the concerns of small business owners and their employees, and it’s time for our presidential candidates to do the same.

To illustrate the impressive strength and bandwidth of the small business voting bloc, and raise the issues that matter most to them, NFIB conducted four state-specific, post-primary surveys and one national survey of Democratic and Republican voters on Super Tuesday. As expected, our polls confirm that small business owners and their employees, not only in California but nationwide, are equal to, or greater than, well-established segments like veterans and union members.

– California Democrats: small business bloc (owners and employees) is 28 percent compared with 20 percent union.

– California Republicans: small business bloc (owners and employees) is 39 percent compared with 20 percent veterans.

Nationwide, small business owners account for approximately 10.7 percent of all registered voters; when you include their employees, this number jumps to 31.8 percent. And small business owners alone make up roughly the same amount of the national electorate as union voters.


Health issues

Despite being a significant voting bloc, presidential candidates are not doing enough to address the issues that matter most to small businesses, especially when it comes to health care. Premium increases and diminished access to care are placing an overwhelming burden on small businesses; many cannot afford to purchase health insurance for themselves or their employees. 2005 census data showed that of the 46 million Americans who were uninsured, approximately 27 million were small business owners, their employees or their families.

In California, small businesses are similarly squeezed. Forty-five percent of Republican and 60 percent of Democratic small business owners and employees polled said they had difficulty keeping up with the cost of health care; in both cases, this was greater than other voting segments.

More than ever before, small business owners and their employees are turning out to vote. They are a powerful group motivated by finding real solutions to the issues that impact them the most, such as health care. And they understand that to address the health care crisis, small business the backbone of our economy must be a central part of any solution. While legislators have begun to craft policy solutions, none of the proposed language fully considers or accounts for their concerns. NFIB is dedicated to addressing the rising cost of health care by bringing about real and meaningful reform because we know that when the system is fixed for small business owners and their employees, it will be fixed for America.


John Kabateck is executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business/California. The NFIB is a small business association.

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