by Thomas Catenacci
Small business owners are increasingly pessimistic about U.S. economic conditions and overwhelmingly support an expansion of domestic fossil fuel infrastructure, the latest polling data showed.
Just 27% of small business owners agreed the economy was in “good” or “excellent” condition, according to a Job Creators Network Foundation poll released Friday and shared with The Daily Caller News Foundation. The figure represented the lowest rating of the current economic situation among small business owners since the group began the poll a year ago.
The poll found that small business owners who employed fewer than 20 workers were the most negative about the economy.
“While the Biden administration is touting a ‘small business boom’ and misdirecting the public, our polling shows without a doubt that Main Street is suffering,” Job Creators Network Foundation president Elaine Parker said in a statement shared with TheDCNF.
“Small businesses are having a difficult time grappling with persistently high inflation, disruptive supply chain problems, and labor shortages—not to mention the threat of higher taxes and government red tape,” she continued. “It’s time for the White House to stop playing the blame game and take some responsibility.”
A whopping 90% of small business owners said the U.S. should boost manufacturing and decrease reliance on foreign imports to create jobs, improve the economy and address domestic supply chain issues, according to the poll, while 57% of respondents added that they would need to soon make “significant operational adjustments” to stay afloat.
The Consumer Price Index, a key metric used by the Department of Labor (DOL) to measure inflation, surged 8.3% over the 12-month period ending April, federal data released Wednesday showed. Excluding March, the number was the largest increase since January 1982.
A separate inflation metric that tracks wholesale prices skyrocketed 11% year-over-year in April, down from the record 11.5% increase reported in March, according to a DOL report Thursday.
Businesses also continue to struggle with a widespread worker shortage; in March, job openings hit an all-time record of 11.5 million.
The Job Creators Network Foundation poll also showed that 77% of small business owners support expanding domestic oil and natural gas pipeline infrastructure.
The Biden administration has canceled or delayed several pipelines including the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline since taking power in January 2021. The administration has also canceled multiple oil and gas lease sales, dragged its feet on a new offshore leasing plan and pushed myriad burdensome environmental regulations.
The first Job Creators Network Foundation poll released in May 2021 showed that 35% of small business owners predicted Biden’s economic and tax policies would help them while 42% said the president’s policies would hurt them.
The poll surveyed 500 small businesses from April 5 to April 28 and had a margin of error of 4.4%.
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Thomas Catenacci is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
