The big business of Wall Street tends to be far more politically controversial than the small businesses of Main Street. In the latest Marketplace-Edison Research Poll, 58 percent say Wall Street does more to hurt the lives of most Americans than it helps them.
With so much of the election talk focusing on Wall Street, it’s easy to overlook issues that are important to the small-business community. Small businesses are responsible for two-thirds of new job growth, meaning what affects them has big consequences for our whole economy. Conversations with small business owners across industries and political parties reveal concern about healthcare costs, access to capital, taxes, regulation and export policy.
Small business is something just about all politicians say they support, like the troops, or the middle class. But just like veterans frustrated with medical care backlogs and working parents scraping to pay for child care, the small business owners Marketplace talked to don’t feel they’re getting enough from Washington beyond warm words in campaign speeches.
Click the player above to hear voices from America’s small business community on the issues that are important to them.