It is not surprising most small business owners support President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID Relief Plan. Considering the beating they have been taking for most of 2020 any relief plan will be welcomed with open arms.
The data is part of the CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Confidence Index Q1 2021, which by the way is down five points. This is the lowest level for the survey since CNBC and SurveyMonkey started tracking confidence.
Even though small business owners across the political spectrum support the plan to a different degree, other parts do not get the same endorsement. Key amongst them is the $15 an hour minimum wage.
As Jon Cohen, Chief Research Officer at SurveyMonkey, said in the report, “The pressure is rising for small business owners, with barely more than half saying they can make it another year under current conditions.”
A $15 an hour minimum wage might be the proverbial straw that breaks many small business owners.
CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Index Q1 2021 Data
- 63% of small business owners say they support the proposed $1.9 trillion relief bill, and it goes up to 77% for the general public.
- 46% Republicans, 60% Independents, and 96% Democrat business owners support the bill.
- General public support is 54% for Republican and GOP leaners, 79% Independents, and 97% Democrats.
- Only 29% of small business owners describe their current business condition as good. This is down from the 39% of the last quarter and 56% the previous year.
- 25% say current business conditions are bad.
- The number of owners expecting their revenue to increase in the next 12 months is down. Meanwhile, the number who expect their revenue to decrease is up.
- This is the lowest level of the CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Confidence Index score at 43 out of a possible 100. According to the survey, every measure in the index took a negative turn this quarter.
Challenges in Policy Changes
Policy changes are inevitable with a new administration and it is no different for the Biden presidency. According to this survey, a majority of small business owners (56%) expect the changes in policy to have a negative effect on their business in the next 12 months. This is a first for the survey and more than double from just a year ago when it was 26%.
Another policy change is taxes. And it doesn’t come as a shocker in the survey when 61% of owners say they expect the tax policy of this administration to have a negative effect on their business in the next 12 months.
The CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Index clearly highlights the partisan divide. But the one thing all small business owners must deal with is the policies legislators pass. Higher taxes and mandatory $15 an hour minimum wage legislation will cripple many small businesses that are barely holding on.
Time will tell how the relief bill, mass vaccinations, the opening of the economy, and the new policies are going to affect small business owners across the country.
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This article, “Majority of Small Business Owners Support Biden’s $1.9 Trillion Recovery Plan – But Not All of It” was first published on Small Business Trends