Small Businesses Rate Highly

PEAK Awards speaker Frank Newport, editor in chief of The Gallup Poll, talks with Print Solutions magazine

The world of business is influenced by many factors, such as the economy, politics and even public opinion. No one knows this better than Frank Newport, Ph.D., editor in chief of The Gallup Poll in Princeton, N.J., and featured speaker at the third annual Print Excellence And Knowledge (PEAK) Award breakfast on Oct. 18 in Las Vegas. Thanks to more than 60,000 interviews conducted annually by the Gallup Poll since 1992, Newport has observed the changing trends in American culture. He has also documented these trends in the books Polling Matters: Why Leaders Must Listen to the Wisdom of the People, The Evangelical Voter, and the book series Where America Stands and Ethnic Voters and National Issues. At the 2007 Print Solutions Conference & Expo, Newport will share with business leaders the current leanings in American public opinion and what owners can expect in the future. Here is a preview:

How do Americans view the state of the economy?
In general, Americans are quite negative about the economy, which is very astonishing to business owners. Though the economy is doing quite well, 61 percent of Americans say it’s getting worse. We wondered why with the booming market people would perceive that.

The Gallup Poll asked people to share the reasons why, in their own words. The most frequently cited reason was high gas prices. We see that people tend to localize their impression of the economy. The second most frequently cited reason was job losses and unemployment. Inflation and the cost of living came third. Next listed was the housing market slowdown. And finally, other people cited the gap between the rich and poor and rising health care costs as the reason why they thought the economy wasn’t doing well.

It’s just when economists think of the economy, they think of GNP. Regular people localize it. But the public’s perception of the economy isn’t trivial. This doesn’t only have an influence on retail spending. In 1992 Americans were worried about the economy. That was the same year that they threw out George Bush and elected Bill Clinton.

What does the retirement landscape look like for baby boomers? Are they planning to leave the workforce later in life than their predecessors?
The current retirement age is 60, but over half of people say they don’t expect to retire until they are 64 or older. A lot of people also said they want to continue to work part-time after their retirement, and it’s not just for the money, but for fulfillment and self actualization.

In the Gallup Poll we also asked, “When you retire, how much are you going to depend on these sources to fund for your retirement: Social Security, 401(k) or other retirement savings account?” We found that most Americans have internalized that they won’t be able to rely on Social Security. Most reported that they will rely on their 401(k) or IRA. This is in contrast to the nearly 54 percent of current retirees who say that Social Security is the major source of their income.

The reason the government should worry in the future is because a lot of studies show that workers don’t have enough money saved to rely on their pensions by the time they retire. We believe that retirement is a bubbling problem, a ticking time bomb. As people get older and realize that their 401(k) will not sustain them after retirement, there is going to be more of an outcry for significant involvement from the government in health care and Social Security for older people.

What are Americans’ perceptions of business?
Americans like small business. You get a 30 to 40 percent shift in positive perception when you insert the word “small” in front of the word “business.” Only 18 percent of people approve of big business compared to 59 percent who approve of small business. Some of your readership may want to emphasize that they are small.

In general, Americans will support public policies that make big business do more and pay more. They don’t want socialized medicine but they are in favor of making big business pay more for employee health care.

Have perceptions of big business taken a downturn in the past decade thanks to businesses like Enron and WorldCom?
The problem was that the image of big business and corporate heads was pretty bad already. Stories like Enron and WorldCom just reinforced what many people already believed. Some industry segments are more disliked than others. Pharmaceuticals and the oil and gas industry usually come toward the bottom of the list.

To hear Newport share more about the economy, the American workforce and other public opinions, attend the PEAK Awards breakfast on Oct. 18. For registration information, visit www.printsolutionsshow.com

—LaShell Stratton