Checking In with the Investor Class
We went back to a group of voters BusinessWeek profiled four years ago to see which Presidential candidates are speaking to their concerns
With the U.S. economy souring and stock markets down, where are voters in the so-called investor class turning?
American voters who identify themselves as investors—those who own stocks and bonds directly or invest in them through 401(k)s, mutual funds, or other accounts—have been a key bloc in recent elections. Their backing was critical to both of President George W. Bush’s victories, and their shift away from the Republican Party in 2006 helped put Congress back in Democratic hands. The same holds true now, says Daniel Clifton, a Washington policy analyst with Strategas Research Partners. “Whichever way they move in the general election, that will sway the vote.”
Today the investor class accounts for roughly a third of the electorate. It’s a diverse lot, including everyone from union members and suburban environmentalists to a growing number of African Americans and Hispanics. Still, within each group, investor-class voters lean toward Republicans, says independent pollster John Zogby. Union members who own shares back GOP candidates more often than their peers who don’t, for example.
Candidates from both parties, of course, are trying to draw investors in. They’re a key reason John McCain and most of his former Republican rivals pledged to maintain the Bush tax cuts—and an equally important reason Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama say they’ll limit increases in capital-gains taxes to top earners.
To see how well each candidate is doing with investors, BusinessWeek went back to a group of investor-class voters we profiled in September, 2004, just before the last Presidential election. By and large they have done well, as have many American investors, but the economy’s current woes present new hurdles. (more…)
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