Nearly half of the nation’s small business owners say their businesses won’t survive, if they are subjected to another four years of Joe Biden in the White House – and a look at his first-term performance suggests they could be right.
A new, national survey by the Red Balloon job site and the PublicSquare shopping site asked small business owners a straightforward question:
“Will your business survive a second Biden presidential term?”
Forty-nine percent said they either “definitely” (22.4%) or “probably” (26.2%) won’t make through a second term of a Joe Biden presidency:
Q: Will your business survive a second Biden presidential term?
- Definitely No 22.4%
- Probably No 26.2%
- Don’t know 28.8%
- Definitely Yes 7.2%
- Probably Yes 15.3%
The results are corroborated by another question asked later in the survey, where half (50.5%) of business owners said they’re either “pessimistic” (26.2%), or worse, “worried” (24.3%) about “the current trajectory” of their businesses.
Just 5.7% said they’re “highly optimistic,” while 25.2% were “cautiously” so. Another 18.6% were “neutral” about where their businesses are headed.
To cope with their hardship, 39.4% of businesses have been forced to delay bill payments in order to manage their cash flow this year.
Asked about their “current view of the US economy,” more than three-fourths (78.6%) of business owners said it’s headed for a recession. More than two-thirds (68.7%) of all business owners believe the country is heading for a “major” recession.
Inflation appears to be stoking business owners’ fears.
More than nine in ten (91.1%) think inflation “will remain high” in the next six months, the survey found. Less than one percent (0.8%) believe inflation will “will decrease and return to normal.”
Even worse, nine in ten business owners also think there won’t be any economic growth to help offset the persistent high inflation, as 87.4% say it’s at least somewhat likely the country is headed for a period of what’s known as “stagflation.” Nearly two-thirds (63.8%) “strongly” believe stagnation lies ahead.
A comparison of Biden’s economic record to that of his predecessor, Donald Trump, helps explain why the nation’s small business owners are so concerned about the future of their businesses – especially, when it comes to inflation.
More than three years into Biden’s presidency, hard numbers show that Biden is falling far short of Trump’s performance, regardless of whether the measure is how much Americans are paying, earning, or saving, in terms of:
- Inflation
- Gas Prices
- Real Wages
- Mortgage Rates
- Savings Rates
Consumer prices rose 7.6% in the 48 months of the Trump Administration, from a CPI of 243.618 in January 2021 to one of 262.035 in December 2020.
In contrast, prices have already risen more than twice as much, 19.3%, in just 39 months under Biden.
More than three-fourths of the way through Biden’s term, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has risen from 262.518 in January of 2021 to 313.207 last month (April 2024), putting it on pace to increase three times as much as it did during Trump's full, four-year term. On a monthly basis, inflation averaged 1.9% under Trump, compared to 5.5% under Biden, thus far.
The “May 2024 Freedom Economic Index” by Red Balloon and PublicSquare was conducted April 30-May 10 and has a 4% margin of error at the 95% confidence level.