A recent Manta survey had some interesting results about the political views of small business owners:

• 32% believe the Republican party to be the biggest supporter of small business, but this number is down from 54% in 2012; 26% don’t believe any of the major political parties are supporters of small business
• 81% plan to vote out sitting incumbents

Do you need to be political?
How much should small business owners be involved with politics? There’s no right answer, obviously. From my view, it depends on what’s going on locally as it impacts small business, and the level of interest in politics that owners may or may not have.

Whatever your political leaning, you may want to become involved in a race to support your candidate. Support can be financial (though no tax deduction or credit is allowed for political contributions) or via your time and effort.

The mid-term elections
November 4 is Election Day, which is less than 3 months away. On this day, all members of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate are up for election. In addition, there are many state and local offices being filled on this day.

Here are my feelings about voting:

• Register to vote if you haven’t already done so. This preserves your right to cast a ballot.
• Become an educated voter. Learn about the issues that may impact you and where the candidates stand on them.
• If you don’t vote, you don’t have a right to complain about what goes on.
• A vote is a precious thing to waste. Don’t!