Members of the small business community are primed for a big boost as a result of Tuesday's Congressional elections, with 62 percent believing the new Republican controlled House will have a favorable impact on small businesses overall. According to a survey by Manta, a major source of information on and for small businesses, 58 percent believe their own businesses will improve because of the election results.
In addition to the Mantra survey results, two major small business associations - the National Small Business Association (NSBA) and the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) - expressed cautious optimism that small businesses would benefit from the changes. “The voice of small business was heard,” NFIB president and CEO Dan Danner said. This includes small businesses with 10 or fewer employees.
“The issues plaguing the small-business community aren’t going to magically disappear, regardless of which party is in leadership in the House or Senate. A staunchly nonpartisan organization, NSBA urges lawmakers of 112th Congress to do everything in their power to ensure the very modest glimmers of economic recovery we are just now seeing continue,” the NSBA commented. “That recovery must start with small business.”
Of the Mantra "Pulse of Small Business" user survey conducted Wednesday of small business owners and employees (the majority of them owners), 69 percent— the largest majority registered in the survey— said the Administration’s policies has hurt small business. Moreover, 58 percent of the respondents said they are more confident now that they will be able to grow their business than they were two years ago when the Democrats triumphed in the elections.
As small businesses look ahead to 2011, the majority of those surveyed said their greatest concern is the nation's economic outlook (22 percent), while 21 percent said taxes were their biggest worry. Seventeen percent (17percent) of the respondents said the economic outlook in their own community was their top concern, while 15 percent indicated healthcare gives them the most angst. Labor costs, a conventional concern for small business owners, was the least of their worries and cited by only 2 percent of the respondents as their greatest concern.
Pamela Springer, president and CEO of Manta Media Inc. "The majority of our respondents (70 percent) are involved in small businesses with fewer than 10 employees, while 20 percent are involved with businesses that have between 10 and 50 employees. These are the small businesses that run our country and their voice resonated at the polls."
NFIB’s Danner said: “With 19 NFIB members – and more than 240 NFIB-endorsed candidates – now on their way to the U.S. Congress in January, this was a particularly significant election for the NFIB membership. It’s clear that the voice of small business was heard in this election.”
“More NFIB members, small-business owners and candidates with close small-business ties ran for Congress this year than ever before,” Danner said. “Many of them were among the 290 pro-small-business candidates endorsed by NFIB – more than 80 percent of who won (Tuesday) last night. This is outstanding news for America’s small-business community and job seekers because it means there will be a lot more people in Congress who understand that the best way to create jobs is to get out of the way, and off of the backs, of small businesses.”
“We expect the 112th Congress to listen closely to small-business owners in 2011, not only because so many members will hail from the small-business community, but because they know that small businesses are America’s job creators. A majority of the candidates who won… did so by running on a pro-small-business message. That’s good news for small-business issues in the 112th Congress,” Danner said. Visit www.NFIB.com or www.NSBA.com.