Bob McCarty Writes

Small business owners are not pleased with the inaction of the federal government, according to a poll released today by American Management Services, the nation’s premiere small business organization. The poll was conducted by Suffolk University.

A stunning 63% of respondents said the federal government is “doing nothing” to help small businesses while 23% said it is doing “little.” Over three-quarters of those polled, 78%, said this summer’s economic stimulus checks did nothing to help their business. A staggering 81% of small business owners feel the country is in an economic recession. Finally 72% believe that the federal government is bailing out Wall Street and big business.

“The results are clear. Our country’s 23 million small business owners are disappointed with the lack of action on their behalf. While Wall Street and big businesses get bailed out, small businesses receive no assistance in these difficult times,” George Cloutier, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Management Services, a 21-year-old company offering implementation-based profit program and turnaround services to privately held small and mid-sized businesses across the country.

“With rising gas prices and an economy in recession, the poll shows us that it’s time the federal government and congressional leadership implement concrete emergency programs to help small businesses. Tens of thousands of small businesses will fail this year due to government inaction. Wall Street firms can borrow billions at 2.28% but average small businesses are having their credit cut off. They create 60% of the nation’s jobs; the small business industry is clearly an economic engine and it’s stalling. It’s time to get it re-started.”

In terms of presidential politics, the poll revealed small business owners favor U.S. Senator John McCain over Sen. Barack Obama by a margin of 38% to 21%, with 32% of the respondents undecided. Nearly half of all respondents, 49%, admitted they did not know which major presidential candidate had the best program for small businesses, while substantially more, 80%, did not know where McCain and Obama stand on the issue. In terms of vice presidential choices, respondents from both sides of the aisle favored candidates with strong economic backgrounds, with Sen. Hillary Clinton receiving 49% of support from Democrats and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney receiving 43% of support from Republicans.

A whopping 81% percent of respondents said the country is in an economic recession. 57% of respondents said the credit crunch has directly affected their small business. Exactly half believe the economy will worsen.

The study showed 72% of those surveyed believe the federal government is bailing out Wall Street and big business. Nine of out ten small business owners sampled did not participate in national small business week

Additional poll results revealed 49% of respondents feel gas and energy costs are the most pressing business issue facing small businesses today. It also found that labor costs and inflation are the other leading concerns, not healthcare as had been the conventional wisdom. Also 77% of respondents believe the U.S. should open up the restricted oil reserves in “Alaska and off-shore in Florida and California.”

Of the 400 people who took part in the poll, 33% identified themselves as Republicans, 22% as Democrats and 37% as Independents.

The Suffolk University poll was conducted from June 23 to July 3, 2008. The margin of error is +/- 4.90% at a 95% level of confidence. The 400 small business owners were drawn from a nationally-recognized data base and included small business owners from across the country, per Department of Commerce/Census Regional and Gender Quotas.