Sixty percent of 1,004 solution providers polled in an exclusive CRN Tech News presidential election survey said they will cast their vote for Republican Mitt Romney compared to 40 percent for President Barack Obama. The wide margin of victory for Romney is in sharp contrast to election polls that are characterizing the race as a dead heat.
CRN's 2012 election poll revealed that 65 percent of solution providers say that four more years of Obama's leadership will lead to higher tax rates for businesses. What's more, 67 percent of solution providers feel that Obama's re-election will lead to higher health-care costs for businesses.
In contrast, 64 percent of solution providers polled by CRN say that electing the former Massachusetts governor as president will lead to an overall improvement in the business climate compared to 33 percent for Obama.
Dave Rice, CTO of TrueCloud, a NetSuite ERP Software-as-a-Service partner, said he sees a Romney victory giving a "boost" to the overall economy and the small-business climate.
"My expectation is that the Republicans will be friendlier to small businesses," Rice said. "We were founded in 2008. We were born just at the beginning of the Great Recession. If we can survive that, we can survive anything. We're looking for anything that can give us a boost."
Fifty-eight percent of solution providers said they feel that four more years of Obama's leadership will have a negative impact on the economy.
Larry Vilim, owner and director of finance for CoreTech, an Omaha, Neb.-based solution provider, said he feels Romney will move the country more quickly toward a balanced budget. "A balanced budget is important," he said. "I think we are going to get there a lot quicker with Romney than Obama. They have different spending ideas. Being a small business, I am more apt to go with Romney on his spending ideas than Obama."
However, Peter Horewitch, president of Common Knowledge Technology, an Englewood, Colo.-based solution provider, said he is voting for Obama because of the president's progressive stance on social issues. "The social implications are more important to me," he said. "I don't want to tell my daughter that she can't have the health care she needs when she is older."
Robby Hill, president and CEO of HillSouth, a Florence, S.C.-based solution provider, said he is voting for Romney, but feels the biggest impact on his business will come from how Congress reacts to the fiscal cliff facing the country.
"I hope the Republicans win, but the real impact is going to come from who takes the majority in the House and Senate and is able to get bills passed," he said. "Right now, Congress is deadlocked."
Hugh Sazegar, president and CEO of Techcess Group, a fast-growing Houston-based solution provider, believes the impact of the presidential election on small businesses such as his is overplayed. "We haven't seen any negative impact over the last four years with Obama," he said. "Many people say small to midsize businesses like ours are getting hit. We haven't felt that. I don't think anything will change [whether Obama is re-elected or not]. Small to midsize businesses are the job creators. I don't think that will be touched by anyone in government."
Four years ago, Techcess employed 15 people, said Sazegar. Today, the company employs 45 people. "Raising our taxes by 3 [percent] to 4 percent is not going to kill us," he said.
[Editor's Note: This article is part of our exclusive election coverage for the CRN Tech News tablet app. We are making it available to our full CRN.com readership for a limited time. For more exclusive coverage, subscribe to the CRN Tech News app.]
PUBLISHED NOV. 6, 2012
