Survey Shows Small Business Owners Are Observant and Reliable Voters.

LANSING, Mich. -- Small business owners in Michigan closely follow legislative races and nearly all of them are registered and planning to vote, according to the Small Business Association of Michigan's (SBAM) quarterly Barometer survey.

SBAM's January 2006 survey found that 35% of small business owners "very closely" follow their local races for state representative and state senator. Forty-two percent follow the races "somewhat closely." An earlier Barometer survey, from May 2004, found that 98% of small business owners were registered to vote and nearly 84% of small business owners reported that they vote in every election or nearly every election.

"These survey results should be a wake-up call to political candidates: small business owners are keenly interested in who is going to represent them in the legislature and you can rely on them to come to the voting booth," says SBAM Vice President Communications Michael Rogers.

SBAM has endorsed candidates in nearly every House and Senate district. A list of endorsed candidates, along with a grid that indicates how every state legislator voted on issues of key importance to the small business community, will be published in the October issue of Focus on Small Business, SBAM's monthly member magazine. SBAM will mail a copy of the magazine to interested voters. Email a request to [e-mail].

"Because of their voting reliability, small business owners can be the key to success in a close election," Rogers says. "Candidates who want to be elected will benefit from paying close attention to the entrepreneurial growth agenda favored by the small business community."