Survey: 62% of Institutional/Industrial Launderers Favor Romney Over Obama for President

CHICAGO — If U.S. voters side with the majority of institutional and industrial laundry managers and administrators who responded to October's AmericanLaundryNews.com Wire survey, Mitt Romney will be elected the 45th president of the United States next month.

Roughly 62% of Wire subscribers (which include personnel from institutional/OPL, cooperative, commercial and industrial laundries) polled in the anonymous, unscientific survey say they are supporting the Republican ticket of Romney and running mate Paul Ryan. Roughly 15% are supporting Democratic incumbents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and 23.1% are not sure at this time. No one who took the survey said they would not be voting for president, or that they are supporting a third-party or write-in candidate.

The state of the economy will be most influential in helping 50% of respondents decide how to cast their vote next month. (Respondents were asked to pick one issue from a list of 19, including “other.”) Next is debt management (selected by 23.1%) and “other” (chosen by 7.7%; most said they would be influenced by multiple issues). Equal shares of 3.8% see the environment/global warming, foreign policy, healthcare, party affiliation, or taxes as the issue that will most influence their decision.

No matter who is elected next month, they will have a lot of work to do. Regardless of who's elected, what is the one issue that you think the administration must address immediately?

Among respondents, their answers most often related to the economy, government spending and job creation. Some examples:

• “Balance budget without increasing or adding any new taxes. Stop all this government spending. Middle-class people can't afford it.”
• “Jobs. The American people have been very patient with the administration for the past four years, but it is time that people get out there and make some money. People need to get their homes back, and big businesses need to play a part in all this. The banks should be forced to return the money given to them by the feds.”
• “Putting people back to work. Reduce the welfare rolls. Try something like the old WPA that worked during the Depression, and stop all this crap from China. Force American-made first by having companies have to manufacture at least 30% of their products here instead of abroad. No tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas.”
• “The economy. If more people are back to work, that will generate more revenue for the government. However, the government needs to cut spending and create a budget.”
• “The economy is the most important issue. If not addressed, we, as a nation, are doomed.”

While the Wire survey presents a snapshot of readers’ viewpoints at a particular moment, it should not be considered scientific.

Subscribers to Wire e-mails—distributed twice weekly—are invited to take the industry survey anonymously online each month. All managers and administrators of institutional/OPL, cooperative, commercial and industrial laundries are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define operator opinions and industry trends.