Dead Heat In Solution Provider Support For Democrats-Republicans As Democratic Convention Gets Under Way

Solution provider support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton is dead even as the Democratic National Convention gets under way this week in Philadelphia, according to a survey of 253 solution providers conducted by CRN.

Approximately 47.4 percent of solution providers surveyed said Clinton would be the better candidate for their business with another 47.4 percent pledging their support for Trump. Approximately 5.1 percent of respondents listed alternative parties.

The even split shows a dramatic fall-off in support for Trump, who had led over Clinton as a better candidate for the business prospects of technology solution providers by a margin of 48 to 38 percent in the monthly CRN poll in June, with 14 percent listing alternative parties.

[Related: Who Do You Plan To Vote For In The 2016 Presidential Election?]

Allen Falcon, founder and CEO of Cumulus Global, a 12-year-old Westborough, Mass.-based cloud solution provider who participated in the July poll, said he sees Trump feeding the economic uncertainty that is hurting his business.

’Trump feeds that uncertainty because his statements and policies are so unpredictable,’ said Falcon. ’Whether you agree or disagree with Hillary Clinton’s economic strategy, she has a plan that is going to provide a level of consistency and predictability that we would not get from Trump. The challenge with Trump is that when he is asked about the economy, he has no specific plan. He simply says, ’ I am going to get the best people and we’ll make it better.' It is unclear what, if anything, he is actually going to do.’

Many small and midsize businesses are putting IT projects on hold until they have a ’better sense of whether the economy will continue to grow slowly or take a downturn,’ said Falcon. ’We see many companies almost afraid to take risks and make changes because of the uncertain economic future. Trump is feeding into that economic uncertainty.’

Cumulus Global’s sales growth has ranged from 15 percent to 40 percent month to month but would be even higher if there was more certainty around the economy, said Falcon. Falcon also sees continued congressional gridlock if Trump is elected president even with a Republican majority. ’I am convinced that Trump will spend a significant amount of time fighting with the Republican Congress,’ he said.

Rod Basala, owner of Millenium Systems, a 20-year-old voice/data technology solution provider based in Antioch, Ill., said he is dumbfounded by the support for Clinton. ’Are people nuts?’ he asked. ’Don’t these people see what Hillary Clinton would do to businesses? Trump is the right candidate because he is a businessman. That’s what this country needs in the White House -- a businessman. We need someone that will run the country like a business, not another politician.’

Basala said the economic uncertainty impacting his customers has more companies coming to him for break/fix tech work, which is the company's specialty, rather than major IT projects. ’When the economy is bad, we do well,’ he said. ’Our business is up 50 percent as companies make small changes to their business. We are benefiting from that.’

Basala is particularly concerned with Clinton’s support to raise the minimum wage, which he expects would negatively impact his business.

’A lot of the small businesses that I deal with have told me they will have to shut down if the minimum wage is raised to $15 an hour,’ Millenium Systems' Basala said. ’Those are my customers. These are the people I deal with day in and day out. Our niche is small business.’

Basala said he sees Trump’s grass-roots campaign as a sharp contrast to the big money special interests being served by a Clinton candidacy. He sees the election as a watershed moment for all businesses in the country.

’If Hillary Clinton is elected president, I see a lot of economic uncertainty ahead that will negatively affect my company,’ he said.