The business of politics and wages

Kootenai County is like the rest of the country in that small businesses comprise the backbone of American enterprise. Most adults, here and elsewhere, work for small businesses. What they do and what they think matters.

That’s why the results of a national poll of more than 10,000 small-business owners, done by Thumbtack (see Thumbtack.com), were somewhat surprising. Thumbtack’s latest survey asked, “Which presidential candidate do you support?” and the winner was “Undecided” with 43 percent of the vote. That’s not the shocker; this is.

Bernie Sanders.

The Vermont senator whom some critics describe as the least supportive of free market competition garnered 20 percent of the vote, compared to Donald Trump’s 15 percent and Hillary Clinton’s 13 percent. Ted Cruz collected 6 percent and John Kasich, 3 percent.

Do we conclude that American small business leaders are increasingly liberal? Not at all, says Thumbtack’s Lucas Puente, who earned his Ph.D. at Stanford. Puente said the survey reflects an electorate that has largely still not made up its mind.

“Far fewer liberals are undecided as to their choice, with only 24 percent not yet stating a preference for one of the remaining candidates,” he writes. “Still, these differences in decided voters don’t entirely explain Senator Sanders’ first place position among skilled professionals. Illustrating this, among the election’s most pivotal group — moderates — Bernie Sanders again finishes in first, taking 17.7 percent to Hillary Clinton’s 13.1 percent and Donald Trump’s 12.5 percent.”

Thumbtack’s small-business survey also jostled the widely held business belief that a big boost to the minimum wage would be harmful. Fifty-six percent of respondents support the idea of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Puente offered this insight: “Our results show that this support is partly out of self-interest. That is, the share of skilled professionals reporting that they would directly benefit from this change is greater than the share that say that they would be directly harmed. More than a third of skilled professionals think a $15 per hour minimum wage would increase demand for the services they offer, thereby directly boosting their bottom line.”

In our view, Bernie Sanders would not be the best chief executive for our nation’s small-business empire, and we believe the minimum wage debate should be waged at the local level, where cost of living, types of businesses and many other critical factors can be taken into consideration. Then again, the 2016 Legislature made sure Idaho cities and counties can’t make that determination for themselves. So much for the local control legislators say is essential for good government.