A new survey of 80,000 small businesses in the Freedom Economy by RedBalloon and PublicSquare found that 48.6% of small businesses say they won’t survive a second Biden term. 22.4% of respondents said their business would "definitely not" survive another four years under the current administration, while another 26.2% said their business "probably" would not make it.
Additionally, when asked what changes, if any, these business owners would make to their business plans in preparation for a potential second Biden term, their responses reflected the economic hardship of the past year:
"I would just shut the doors. We have already reduced costs as much as we possibly can to survive as it is. We would have no choice."
"No changes can be made without just closing the doors. We have already cut costs to the bare minimum."
"There is nothing I can afford to do in addition to what I'm already doing. If things don't change, I'll be finished."
"I would close approximately half of my locations."
See a larger sampling of written responses by downloading the full May 2024 Freedom Economy Index report. Download the May Freedom Economy Index here
“It's been a difficult road for America’s small businesses,” Andrew Crapuchettes RedBalloon CEO said. “Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy, and they make up the majority of our clients here at RedBalloon. We hear from them about the difficulty of obtaining capital, absorbing supplier price hikes, keeping employees, and a host of other problems caused by the inflation spikes and other government induced barriers.”
Small business owners are, in-fact, survivors, but they also know they can't survive forever if they're struggling with an Administration that seems to be working against them.
Methodology:
The May 2024 Freedom Economy Index survey sampled opinions from a universe of over 80,000 small business owners from throughout the United States. The survey fielded from April 30 to May 10, with 754 respondents and a 4% margin of error at the 95% confidence level.