Two Connecticut businessmen say they believe support for Donald Trump among small business owners is understated, suggesting close to 80 percent of business owners would vote for the billionaire instead of Hillary Clinton.
After a recent poll of small-business owners found nearly 60 percent plan to vote for Trump, Kyle Reyes, CEO and president of The Silent Partner Marketing, says that number is likely much higher.
“I really believe that that number is on the low end and I base that on interactions that I’m having with business owners of all shapes and sizes every single day,” Reyes explained to Breitbart News during an interview on Friday. Reyes says his company has more than 250 businesses as clients across the U.S. in 48 different states. “What Trump has done and how he’s grown his business resonates with us.”
Reyes told Breitbart News:
Many business owners are afraid to publically admit that they support Donald Trump because they worry about the negative feedback that their business will receive on social media. Self-proclaimed social justice warriors make it their mission to destroy the businesses of people whom they don’t agree with politically. That in turn, leads to businesses owners silencing their own values to protect their employees. The best business owners are those willing to muzzle themselves int the best interest of the families they support.
“Every day I’m meeting with the owners of family-owned businesses all the way up to CEOs of multi-billion dollar corporations and we see it constantly across the spectrums,” he explained, referencing the support for Trump, adding:
It’s almost to the point where it’s comical where they’ll say, ‘I saw a piece you just wrote about Trump. Close the door,’ and I close the door and I think they’re going to start yelling at me and instead of yelling at me they go, ‘You think he’s going to win? Because, I’m behind him.’
Reyes said one of his clients admitted to identifying as a Clinton supporter in a survey instead of admitting that he’s a Trump supporter, recalling:
I had one of the business owners that we work with — who is a about a $150 million a year company — and he said, ‘You know, I got polled and I told them that I’m voting for Clinton.’ I said, “Since when are you a Clinton supporter? And he goes, ‘No, I’m not a Clinton supporter, but we Trump supporters, we don’t want to show our hand.’
“We’re seeing this all over the place,” Reyes added.
He also dismissed the recent report about Trump’s tax returns from The New York Times, suggesting Trump claimed a multi-million dollar loss and may not have paid taxes for more than a decade.
“Who in their right mind is going to arbitrarily pay more taxes than they have to?” Reyes mocked. “Every single person across the country — as far as business owners — will sit down with their accountant and go, ‘What do I need to do to reduce my tax liability so that I can hire more people?’ We don’t sit there and go, ‘What can I do to pay more taxes?’”
Another Connecticut businessman, Chris Walsh, agreed with Reyes that the number of small business owners supporting Trump is higher than expected.
“I would be surprised if that number is anywhere south of 80 percent,” he said during a phone interview with Breitbart News on Friday about small business owners backing the Republican nominee. “I think you’re going to see a much higher percentage of voters voting for Trump than you saw for Romney and McCain.”
Walsh recently sold his business, which helped veterans get vehicles at a discount. He said the support of Trump even in Connecticut — a typically blue state — is increasing. “There’s a groundswell like I’ve never seen.”
Walsh recalled going into a liquor store where only one car — a Subaru — was parked outside with a Trump sticker. He said he only saw an elderly woman in the store, and when she saw his “Make America Great Again” hat, she gave him a thumbs up. He approached her and asked about her bumper sticker.
“It’s my third one. I’ve had two ripped off. I’ve had curses lipsticked on the back of my car, but I don’t care — enough is enough,” Walsh said the woman told him. “She said, ‘It’s time to make America great again.”
Although he notes the “groundswell” of support for Trump, Walsh acknowledges that Connecticut is in a Democratic region of the country. An Emerson poll from last month shows Clinton with a 15 point lead over Trump in Connecticut.
“This corner of the nation is never going to flip red, but I don’t feel as a resident of Connecticut that it’s not worth my time to go vote like I have in years past,” Walsh added. “I think you’re going to see a huge turnout.”
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