CPAs Weigh in on Presidential Politics
While Most American voters are evenly split, CPAs voice support for Bush over Kerry 2-to-1. Add your opinions.
by Rick Telberg
At Large for the AICPA
Unlike the American public at large, where the Presidential race between John Kerry and George Bush is still too close to call, a straw poll of CPAs shows support for the incumbent by a margin of two-to-one.
The latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey of American voters, for instance, finds little change in the past two weeks either in the presidential contest or presidential job approval.
The race for the White House remains a virtual tie, with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry receiving 49 percent and President George W. Bush 47 percent support among likely voters, according to Gallup.
More Americans disapprove (at 49 percent) than approve (at 47 percent) of the president's job performance, the survey said. About 8 in 10 likely voters (but 7 in 10 registered voters) say their votes are firm and will not change before Election Day.
But among 1,542 At Large readers, 67 percent say that, were the election held today, they'd vote for Bush, with 31 percent supporting Kerry.
The study, to be sure, is not scientific, and certainly not the official policy of the AICPA. The survey was floated for two weeks in mid-May. But in the verbatim comments and cross-tabulations, a close reader can begin to discern clues as to what's on the mind of the rank-and-file CPA.
For instance, when asked, "What's the next best thing the President could do for the U.S. economy?" the most oft-written answer appears to be holding the line on tax cuts, and cutting the federal deficit.
"Keep the current low tax policies that are pro-business," said William W. Cox, a CPA with his own firm in Paducah, Ky.
"Work on reducing the deficit and increase the tax rate on higher incomes," said Kerry-backer Molly Raabe, who runs her own CPA firm in Weimar, Texas. "Tax dividends and capital gains the same as salaries. Tax workers who make over the limit on FICA pay tax on all their earnings. In other words, don't place a limit on FICA earnings. Change the estate tax to exempt the first $3 million of an estate." And, what about theTax Code? "Write it so it can be read and understood."
And, when asked, "what's the one thing you'd want the next president and Congress to do about the Tax Code?" CPAs overwhelmingly called for simplification, citing especially reform of the Alternative Minimum Tax.
"Get rid of the AMT!" said John V. Pezzullo, of Jonlyn & Assoc., a small CPA firm in Wheaton, Ill., and a Bush backer. " It is a tax trap for the middle class with high mortgages and state income tax."
Demographically, CPAs seem to hew to the traditional American political fault lines. For instance, Bush's strongest support comes from managing partners and chief executives, who back him 71 percent. Middle managers, on the other hand, give him 60 percent support.
Members of the smallest companies and firms, most of them presumably firm owners and sole proprietors, support Bush 69 percent, compared with 57 percent support from CPAs in the largest organizations.
While there is no difference in Bush's support between members in industry and members in practice (both sectors give him 68 percent), government-employed CPAs back Kerry, at 53 percent.
If past elections are any guide, the gap among CPAs should narrow as the election approaches. CPAs, as a group, have generally reflected the concerns of the electorate at large, going to the left on social issues and to the right on fiscal policies. It's too early to tell whether that will hold true this time.
