Where Do I Go and Vote?

One of the most exciting election days in years is almost upon us. Tomorrow, millions of people will make their voice heard by heading out to their nearest polling location. If you've watched any of the Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidate's speeches over the past few weeks, I'm sure you've heard "small businesses" at some point or another. It's time to vote for you candidate, and no matter who wins, make sure that they stay true to their promises.

Click here to find your nearest voting station.

Sincerely,
Kevin
Community Relations

Presidential Election Survey Results: Small Business Owners Support McCain over Obama by a Large Margin

Even as new polls suggest Barack Obama is widening his lead over John McCain amongst likely voters, 53% to 45% supporting Obama according to the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, small business owners surveyed in a MerchantCircle study overwhelmingly support McCain. The survey was conducted from September 25 to October 6 to over 4,300 small business owners in all 50 states. MerchantCircle is the largest online network of local business owners in the nation with 625,000 members.

The surveys were conducted voluntarily from business owners via email. Over 96% of the responders intend to vote in November, although 10% are still unsure which candidate will help small businesses the most.

10 questions were asked, shown below:

Here are some interesting stats from breaking down the results:

• Of those (1602 surveyed) who rated that the current administration has represented the interests of local business as “not well at all”, 75.3% indicate they will vote for Obama, 8.7% McCain, 11% don’t know; and 4.9% other.
• 55% have seen a “Severe” or “Moderate” decline in sales and revenue over the past year; 49.4% of McCain supporters versus 40% for Obama supporters.
• McCain had the largest margin of support from businesses with 21+ employees – 64.7% to Obama’s 27.8%. Businesses that identified themselves as having one employee had the closest margin of difference – 47.9% indicated they would vote for McCain to 42% who would vote for Obama.

For individual state break downs, or special requests for specific data, please email Jennifer Roberts at Support@MerchantCircle.com.

Sincerely,
Kevin
Community Relations

Presidential Debate: Obama vs. McCain

With tonight's highly anticipated debate just minutes away from starting - the first of 3 - the nation will eagerly dissect who looks and sounds more presidential: Senators Barack Obama or John McCain? Chances are, the answers will be less than groundbreaking, therefore, demeanor, likability, and eloquence may sway some of the estimated 18% of voters who are undecided.

Be sure to check your email inbox for our Presidential Survey, that will help us fight for the causes that are important to you as local business owners. In the survey, we ask questions, including whether the proposed 700 billion dollar bailout will help you out.

As the nation's largest online network of local business owners, we'll work hard to make sure your voice is heard, not only in your local communities, but also in the hallways of the nation's capital.

Sincerely,
Kevin
Community Relations

P.S. You can also voice your concerns inside our MerchantCircle forums.

Presidential Candidates Obama and McCain on Small Business

While small businesses create roughly two-thirds of all new American jobs, and generate roughly 70 percent of the gross national product, it's amazing that small business issues are rarely mentioned on the campaign trail and in campaign rhetoric. Here at MerchantCircle, we'll fight to make sure you know which candidate has your best interests in mind, so that you can make an informed decision for yourself.

Over the next few days, we'll send out a questionaire to a random sampling of our 575,000 merchant members to gauge your concerns and attempt to find the answers. At the very least, we'll have a clear idea on which candidates small business owners are leaning towards (even in swing states!). After speaking with merchants in Wasilla, AK about Sarah Palin (we'll do the same with the Senator Joe Biden in Scranton, PA and Wilmington, DE), it's obvious that most merchants are not sure how the two parties will affect their business.

Here's a chart from BusinessWeek on some of Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain's agendas on taxes, health care and incentives:



Here's another more extensive side-by-side comparison on candidate positions from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. Click here to see it. It's a really good and easy to look at chart.

Stay tuned to our blog for more posts every day this week.

Sincerely,
Kevin L.
Community Relations