National Write Your Congressman Index Shows Small Business Ready for Congress to Get to Work

News provided by

Jul 11, 2017, 14:39 ET

DALLAS, July 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- National Write Your Congressman (NWYC), an organization that gives small businesses a voice in American government and provides over two million member opinions to Congress each year, finds 97 percent of small business owners are ready for Congress to get to work to improve the economy.

Sixty-two percent believe their own elected members of Congress know their opinions on important issues (a sentiment that is up 10 percentage points since the end of 2016), but only 22 percent believe Congress is working hard to improve the economy.

It is time for Congress to get to work for small business! See National Write Your Congressman's Q2 Index on small business sentiment toward Congress.

"NWYC members' message is a clear mandate: they are ready for both the House and the Senate to get to work," said Randy Ford, President and COO of National Write Your Congressman. "Our members believe small business owners as a group need to jumpstart action by voicing their pro-growth opinions to Congress."

Optimism on Business Climate
Small business is ready to do their part to improve the economy and are asking Congress to do the same. When describing the business climate they face in 2017, 55 percent of small business owners expect an increase in revenues and 50 percent plan to invest via inventory expansion, equipment upgrades, or other capital investments. Thirty-four percent plan to increase hiring.

Any movement on the administration's top proposed economic reforms would be a win for small business owners. Small business owners are ready for Congress to get to work in the areas they rate very high on directly helping their business results:

Tax relief and simplification (95%)
Regulation reduction (90%)
Federal budget & debt reform (86%)
Healthcare reform (79%)
Energy policy reform (76%)
Federal infrastructure investment (73%)
Trade policy to support U.S. jobs (73%)

"There is great opportunity for Congress to come together to improve their track record of action. Individuals are more active voicing their opinions on the economy and are ready for Washington to do their part," said Joshua Habursky, Director of Advocacy for the Grassroots Professional Network.

Fifty-three percent are hopeful that Congress as a whole will take action on their behalf in 2017. Fifty-two percent believe the country should not give up hope on Congress and give them a chance on pro-growth actions.

To describe the future of the U.S. economy, the positive sentiment of small business is "hopeful, optimistic, growing, promising, improving, bright, and strong," while small business negative sentiment is voiced as "uncertain, questionable, bad, bleak, gridlocked, scary, and shaky."

NWYC exists to provide members with non-partisan information and research along with tools to connect with their representatives in Washington and advocate for the policies and actions that will help their small business be successful for their families, their employees and their communities.

NWYC's Quarterly Index measures small business owners and operators' sentiment towards Congress and their confidence in the U.S. government. The Q2 2017 Index is the fourth contiguous study in the research series. To view the full report, click here.

Demographic Profile: NWYC's Q2 2017 Index on the Sentiment of Small Business Towards Congress, conducted between June 27-30, 2017, is based on data collected from 1,414 respondents from within NWYC's membership. Respondents represented individuals from 46 U.S. states. Fifty-nine percent of respondents employ between one and nine people and 37 percent of respondents employ between 10-99 people. Predominant industries represented include: construction (18%), services (18%), manufacturing (14%), retail trade (12%), agriculture/forestry/fishing (8%), finance/ insurance/real estate (8%), transportation/communications/utilities (5%), wholesale trade (4%), mining (2%) and other (11%). Sixty-seven percent of respondents are ages 45-64.

About National Write Your Congressman
National Write Your Congressman (NWYC) is an organization that gives small businesses a voice in American government. As the nation's largest, privately held, nonpartisan membership organization made up of small businesses, NWYC is dedicated to the delivery of constituent opinions to representatives in Washington. For almost 60 years, NWYC has provided small business owners and operators the tools necessary to connect with members of Congress and a platform to let their collective voice be heard. NWYC's team of experts provides unbiased, nonpartisan information and research on top issues and pending legislation relevant to small business owners today. NWYC presents both sides of the issue so that members can form an educated opinion and let their opinions be heard. For more information, visit: www.nwyc.com.

SOURCE National Write Your Congressman