CNBC and SurveyMonkey have released the results of their quarterly Small Business Survey, showing confidence at an all-time low.
The survey found that small business confidence has dropped to an all-time low since the survey began recording the Small Business Index in Q2 2017. The index fell from 61 out of a possible 100 in the first quarter to 48 this quarter. Fewer than one in five small business owners (18%) say current business conditions are “good,” down from 56% in Q1 2020. Meanwhile, 43% say conditions are “bad,” a number that had previously never been higher than 11%.
Each quarter, CNBC and SurveyMonkey poll over 2,000 small business owners aiming to measure the vitality of the American economy as well as the view from Main Street on jobs, taxes and other hot topics. In addition to measuring small business confidence nationwide, the large sample size gives CNBC the power to uncover trends by geographic region and among specific small business cohorts.
Q2 2020 CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey Key findings
• Coronavirus pandemic will have a lasting impact on small businesses: 72% of all small business owners say the coronavirus outbreak is likely to have permanent effects on the way they run their business. 36% of small business owners say they have cut their own pay, while about one quarter have either laid off or furloughed employees. More than half (52%) of businesses that have laid off or furloughed employees expect to hire all of them back once things return to “normal.” 37% say they plan to hire “some” employees back, while 9% say the jobs are lost forever. For a few, the crisis has brought opportunity: 7% of small business owners say they’ve pivoted their companies to provide products or services to aid in fighting the outbreak.
• More than three quarters of small business owners who have 5 or more employees say they’ve applied for Payroll Protection loans from the Small Business Administration: 20% of those firms have received funds. Firms with 50 or more employees are more likely than smaller businesses to say they’ve received funds already.
• President Trump’s approval rating among small business owners drops 12 points: 52% of small business owners approve of the job President Trump is doing, down from 64% in the first quarter. Approval among small business owners who self-identify as Republicans was unchanged at 93%. Disapproval among self-identifying Independents increased to 59% and among self-identifying Democrats to 93%.
“The totality of the quarter-to-quarter change is unlike anything we’ve ever seen, with every marker of confidence plummeting at once,” says Jon Cohen, chief research officer at SurveyMonkey. “Small business owners overwhelmingly see the pandemic as having permanent effects on the way they operate; the buoyant expectations from Q1 have been entirely upended.”
CNBC Small Business Reporter Kate Rogers revealed the results of the CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey Monday, May 4th, throughout CNBC’s Business Day programming.