Lendio Study: Small Business Owners United on Issues Across Political Party Lines

Taxes and maintaining consumer disposable income are top issues for small business owners in the 2020 presidential election

Lehi, Utah — February 29, 2020 — Lendio, the nation’s largest marketplace for small business loans, today released findings from a national study on how small business owners are approaching the 2020 presidential election. The results show that regardless of their political point of view, small business owners agree on many of the issues affecting their ability to do business.

For the purposes of this study, Lendio commissioned an independent research agency to survey 531 verified small business owners around the country. Questions looked into the politics and policies most important to those operating small businesses.

Small business owners are largely aligned on economic issues in spite of their party differences:

• Eighty-two percent of small business owners are optimistic about their businesses. By party, 74% of liberals, 82% of independents and 89% of conservative business owners report feeling optimistic about the future.
• The majority of all conservative, liberal and independent business owners report consistent or increased income over the last year.
• A mere 4% of business owners predict the U.S. will definitely experience a recession in 2020.
• Taxes are the number one voting issue for small business owners, no matter their political persuasion. Keeping consumer disposable income high is a unanimous second.
• Both liberal and conservative small business owners say they will vote for the candidate who will best keep consumer disposable income high.

Small business owners may be aligned on economic issues, but they’re divided on candidates:

• Forty-four percent of small business owners say they are likely to support Donald Trump’s re-election this year. This is largely in line with how they feel his re-election would benefit their business. Forty-three percent of those surveyed say his re-election would help their business, while 42% said it wouldn’t.
• Seventy-seven percent of conservative small business owners say the president’s re-election would be beneficial, while only 9% of liberals said so.
• On the liberal side, Michael Bloomberg garners the most support, with 27% of small business owners indicating they plan to vote for him in the election. The next most-supported candidate is Bernie Sanders with 22%, followed by Warren, Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Biden.

“While party preferences will always remain, it’s no surprise that small business owners find alignment on the things that impact their ability to do business,” said Brock Blake, CEO and founder of Lendio. “With steady, if not increasing revenues, business owners head into this election cycle optimistic and united on the need for economic policies that benefit them. As small businesses continue to thrive, so should the American economy.”

About the study
Lendio commissioned an independent market research firm to survey a random sample of 531 double-screened small business owners. The study’s margin of error is +/-4.25% at the 95% confidence level.