Entrepreneurial

In a very close presidential election race, small businesses in swing states could decide who wins or loses.

Nearly 50 percent of small business owners in key swing states (Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin) favored Republican challenger Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama, according to a survey released last week by Manta, an online small business community.

Despite Romney’s lead among swing state small business owners, Obama was narrowing the gap. The president was the choice for 38 percent of respondents, up six percentage points from a previous Manta survey released in May.

And while they may be leaning towards Romney, 56 percent of swing state voters still believed Obama would win the election.

Greg Garrick, Manta’s vice president of marketing and communications, said the majority of small businesses in these states feel Romney will “be their champion,” but noted that they “don’t believe he has enough power to overcome Obama.”

Regardless of who won the presidential debate, the majority of executives from small technology firms would feel better if Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney wins next month’s general election.

Twice as many CEOs from small to medium-sized technology companies (57 percent) believe the U.S. economy would be better off under Romney, according to a poll conducted last month by Boston-based executive search firm Polachi.

Just 27 percent of executives polled thought President Barack Obama would do a better job guiding the economy.