Are CEOs Sitting This Election Out?

Welcome to this week’s Founder Focus! I’m Melissa Angell, Inc.’s policy correspondent, and each week I’ll be dissecting some of the top policy issues small businesses face. You can sign up to get this in your inbox every week here.

With less than six months left until Election Day, the reigning view of the political landscape among companies may well be nonexistent. 

Corporate America is sticking to the sidelines in the rematch between President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump, according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal. While companies felt the need to speak out in 2020 during a time of civil unrest (one mired with uncertainty as a novel pandemic plagued the globe), this time around they’re feeling more reticent. Which is strange, given that this election is equally, if not more, important–and, right, this is also a time of civil unrest as campuses nationwide protest against the Israel-Gaza war.

Founders, too, are skittish. When I put out a request on Inc.’s Growth Network, a community for fast-growth entrepreneurs, asking founders their thoughts on the election, if they plan to vote, and so on, mum was the word. Again, pretty unusual for a platform buzzing with activity on what’s top of mind for the country’s leading entrepreneurs.

Maybe it’s not a surprise, though, says Cache Merrill, the founder of the Draper, Utah-based Zibtek, a software development company. “We have the same candidates,” he says, adding that both choices fall short on what he’s specifically looking for–a combination of tax cuts, smaller government, and leadership “that sets a standard of behavior and respect for the laws that we are all governed by.” With that rulebook, sure, neither candidate checks all three of those boxes. 

Still, there are some founders who are drumming up enthusiasm for the election. Mike Roach, the founder and co-owner of Paloma Clothing in Portland, Oregon, says he has tremendous respect for Biden and the president’s track record of passing large legislative packages these past few years.

Roach also disagrees with the narrative some have floated that Biden, 81, is too old to be president. (It’s not like Trump, 77, is that much younger.)