2010 Election Survey
Results & Analysis

An online survey conducted by the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce from October 6th to October 8th captured the opinions of the business community through the responses of existing chamber members. Even with a limited sample size, the results provide an interesting snap shot of the view of over 165 Chamber members concerning the 2010 election.

Direction of the Country

On Track 35%
Off Track 65%

There was a strong sentiment that the direction of the country is on the wrong track. Businesses with more than ten employees expressed a negative opinion about the direction of the country as 75% said, “things were off track” at the national level.

Health Care Reform

Help 29%
Hurt 57%
Do Not Know 14%

A majority of the respondents (57%) believe that the health care reform legislation passed earlier this year will hurt the ability of a business to provide insurance to their employees while a third thought it would help. Small businesses (those with ten or fewer employees) had a larger percentage (21%) of respondents who did not have enough information to formulate an opinion.

Economic Conditions

About the same as 2009 36%
Declining since 2009 34%
Improving since 2009 31%

The opinion of respondents was just about evenly divided with about one third for each answer. However this indicates that only about one third (31%) feel the economy is better than one year ago. There is one interesting note as businesses with more than ten employees seemed to indicate a more positive view with 88% indicating the same or improving economic conditions while small business respondents were at 66%.

US Senate

Coons 50%
O’Donnell 35%
Undecided 15%

County Executive Chris Coons has a 15% advantage which is very similar to other polling data that has been released over the last week. The level of support for each candidate is just about the same in the small and larger business categories.

US Congress

Carney 44%
Urquhart 41%
Undecided 15%

John Carney has a 3% advantage which is significantly different from the results of other polling data that has been released over the last week which shows Carney with a 12% to 15% lead. General polling results are taken from the entire population while the Chamber Survey is only among members who either own a business or are very business orientated. The closeness of the results indicates that Glen Urquhart has a higher level of support in the business community. Large business respondents supported Urquhart at a stronger level (46%) but he they also demonstrated a higher undecided rate (19%)