Overall small business confidence jumped across the board from an index value of 57 in the fourth quarter of 2017 to a value of 62 in the first quarter of 2018, a five-point swing that is the largest quarter-to-quarter movement the CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Index has seen to date. The shift was driven by increased optimism for tax policy: half (50 percent) of small business owners see tax cuts in 2018. Those who expect tax cuts score nearly 20 points higher on the index than those who don’t see one ahead (71 vs. 52).
In Q4, small business owners were split evenly on a core index question about the effect that tax policy would have on their business, but no longer. Opinions have shifted significantly, and twice as many now expect changes in tax policy to have a positive rather than a negative effect on their businesses (46 to 23 percent).
Read more about our polling methodology here.
Click through all the results in the interactive toplines below:
Question text:
Which one of the following issues matters MOST to you right now?
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president?In addition to yourself, how many employees work at your small business?
Is your business a: Overall, would you describe current conditions for your business as good, middling or bad? In the next 12 months, do you expect your business’s revenue to increase, stay the same, or decrease?
In the next 12 months, do you expect your business’s staff of full-time employees to increase, stay the same, or decrease? In the next 12 months, do you expect changes in government regulations to have a negative effect, no effect, or a positive effect on your business?
In the next 12 months, do you expect changes in trade policy to have a negative effect, no effect, or a positive effect on your business? In the next 12 months, do you expect changes in technological innovation to have a negative effect, no effect, or a positive effect on your business? In the next 12 months, do you expect changes in immigration policy to have a negative effect, no effect, or a positive effect on your business?
Do you expect your business to get a tax cut in 2018?
What should be Congress’ and the Trump Administration’s number one priority in 2018?
If one of your employees were to quit today, would you expect to pay their replacement more, less, or the same salary to do the same job? Does your business have an official policy regarding how to handle employees’ harassment claims? Who at your business is responsible for handling employees’ harassment claims?
What action(s), if any, has your company taken in response to the series of high profile sexual harassment accusations and the #MeToo movement? (Please select all that apply.)
*businesses
