National

Small business owners nationwide are recovering from the Great Recession and slowly fortifying their businesses. It is the jobs these small businesses provide and the consumers they serve that keeps our recovery moving. Entrepreneurs nationwide recognize we need to foster this trend. According to a national scientific opinion poll conducted for Small Business Majority, small business owners widely agree our federal minimum wage should increase so that small business employees and consumers have more money in their pockets. 

Across all industries and from one end of the political spectrum to the other, small business owners recognize that without comprehensive immigration reform, U.S. small firms and the economy cannot maximize job creation or revenue generation. New scientific polling shows that the vast majority of them believe our current immigration system isn’t working, and they’re eager to fix the broken system. Our primary job creators agree something must be done because immigration is good for America and good for small business.

Signed into law on Feb. 5, 1993, the Family Medical Leave Act allows eligible employees of covered employers to take a limited amount of unpaid, job-protected leave for certain family and medical reasons, and have their benefits maintained. Twenty years later, scientific opinion polling has found small businesses strongly support the decades-old law.

On June 12, 2012, Small Business Majority and Kaiser Permanente released opinion polling that provides new insight into what small business owners in California and Oregon want out of state health insurance exchanges, which are being created under the Affordable Care Act. The polling found interest in a small business exchange is high, along with specific features in the exchange, including allowing employees to choose among multiple carriers and ensuring prevention and wellness programs are available. The survey also found awareness of the small business tax credits is low.

Small business owners across the country are working to rebuild our economy. These entrepreneurs, the engine of job creation, are doing everything they can to hire, grow and move their businesses forward. As part of these efforts, scientific opinion polling in six states— Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia—shows that America’s entrepreneurs want pragmatic, innovative policies that help guide them into a competitive, modern clean energy economy.

In the aftermath of the recession, small business owners are doing all they can to shift our economy back into gear. But many of them are still idling, if not completely stalled. To thrive and reach their full potential, small businesses need a more level economic playing field with large businesses—one that makes them better able to create jobs. Small business owners know robust economic policies aimed at leveling the playing field would strengthen their bottom lines and enhance their capacity to foster widespread economic growth.

On Jan. 21, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its Citizens United decision that corporations are free to spend unlimited sums of money in elections. According to opinion polling released by the American Sustainable Business Council, Main Street Alliance and Small Business Majority, two-thirds of small business owners see this decision as bad for small business. The poll also shows small business owners overwhelmingly believe corporations have been given too much freedom to spend money that directly influences political campaigns.

Introduction 

America’s small business owners are doing all they can to outlast the condition of today’s economy. These hardworking employers know they need the right kind of help if they are to thrive. That’s why they believe immediate action is necessary to form bold clean energy policies that will prompt innovation, and in effect, stimulate small business and the economy.

In this tough economy, small business owners struggle just to keep their doors open, let alone turn a profit and create jobs. Nevertheless, the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in small businesses, and they know that to thrive we must create new opportunities and change with the times, which explains why they favor raising fuel efficiency standards by huge margins—a step some people have wrongly described as a job killer.

Small Business Majority released a national survey of 619 small business owners in January 2011 to gauge how entrepreneurs view two critical components of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: healthcare tax credits and insurance exchanges.