Climate change, the economy, and health care are the top issues of concerns among small business owners who identify as Democrats. According to a survey by Thumbtack, 24% of business owners in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina want to hear more about climate change. They see these three issues as critical for them to vote come November 2020, for the Presidential election.
What Democrat Small Business Owners Want
According to the survey, climate change and the economy are tied at the top issues of interest among those surveyed followed by health care (18%). Conversely, democratic candidates are talking more on trade (16%), corruption and impeachment (15%), and immigration (15%).
A survey by the Pew Research Center some 68% of Americans say climate change is currently affecting their local community either a great deal or some. About 82% of Democrats say climate change is affecting their local community at least some. For Republicans, the number goes down to 38%.
A majority of U.S. adults (56%) say protecting the environment should be a top priority for the president and Congress. A smaller share (44%) say the same about dealing with global climate change.
Healthcare
On health care, many business owners are self-employed are responsible for finding their own health insurance and calculating their appropriate tax rate. These they say make it an issue that they want leaders to address.
The position on health care varies among voters, with 55% wanting Medicare for all. Yet another 34% prefer adding a public option to the Affordable Care Act. A small portion, however, would like to see a different health care plan all together. There is also a small 3% who don’t want to see any changes to the health care policy.
For now, small business owners say they are optimistic about the short-term future of their business. They expect their financial situation to be better in the next three months (60%). But only 5% expect it to be worse. They, however, would like to see less talk on trade/tariffs, immigration, and corruption/impeachment.
Are Candidates Noticing?
This week’s Democratic presidential debate saw them briefly stating what their approach would be towards climate change if they got elected.
In a segue from the US Mexico Trade deal, Bernie Sanders says he is not in favor of a trade deal that did not protect American wages and didn’t address climate change.
Pete Buttigieg had highlighted the importance of reaching out to farmers who were threatened by climate change. Citing his credentials of his dealing with floods in South Bend he said he would use federal funds to help relocate people living in parts of the country that have been made unlivable by climate change.
Tom Steyer for his part argued against such a move. He says managed retreat is extremely expensive and signals a crisis that’s out of control. He instead said that he would declare climate change a “state of emergency” on his first day in office.
According to the Washington Post’s analysis on the percentage of policy talks, Democrats had on climate change via social media focused mostly on social justice and health care.
Who is Getting the Vote?
Those surveyed by Thumbtack note they are still on the fence on which candidate to vote for. With only 39% saying they have made up their mind. Meanwhile, 61% say they could change their support to another candidate before voting begins in the primaries.
Both Independent and Democratic business owners (32%) say their decision to choose a candidate will fall on the candidate’s likelihood of beating President Donald Trump. The candidate’s position on economics is next with 27%. Other factors include the candidate’s experience (17%), their position on health care (12%) and positions on social issues (12%).
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This article, "Democrat Small Business Owners Want 2020 Candidates to Talk Climate, Economy, Healthcare" was first published on Small Business Trends
January 18, 2020 at 09:12AM
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Samson Haileyesus, Khareem Sudlow
