Bank Of America Survey Finds Weak Confidence Level Among Small Business Owners' As Election-Year Anxiety Rises

Bank of America Corp BAC disclosed that its survey found that Small business owners' confidence in the national economy was down. According to the company, based on the spring 2016 Bank of America Small Business Owner Report, it found that only 29 percent of small business owners felt confident that the national economy would improve over the next year. This was a sharp drop from a year ago period.

Bank of America said the report was based on a semi-annual survey of 1,000 small business owners across the country. The survey indicated that the upcoming presidential and congressional elections were having a sizable influence on the outlook of small business owners. The bank's survey also found that Sixty-seven percent believed that the upcoming presidential election would affect their business "a lot" or "somewhat," whereas 53 percent believed congressional elections would have an impact.

The Bank's Small Business executive, Robb Hilson, said, "Our survey suggests that uncertainty over the upcoming elections is making small business owners less optimistic about their businesses and the economy than in recent years. As a result, they're taking a wait-and-see approach before making major investments in the growth of their businesses."

He continued, "We also see this trend when it comes to hiring, as the majority of small business owners we surveyed this spring plan to keep the same number of employees over the next 12 months, perhaps suggesting they are waiting until after the election to reassess hiring plans."

The survey also found that nearly four in five said that they were concerned about the "effectiveness" of U.S. government leaders. Though this was higher than last year, it was in line with previous election year results in 2012 and 2014.

Shares of the company traded 3.89 percent lower on Tuesday.