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What Vault's Readers Expect From a Trump Economy

Published: Dec 05, 2016

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The election may be behind us, but there's a long way to go to bridge the divide between voters on the winning and losing sides—especially on key campaign issues related to jobs and the economy. As you may know, we recently ran our first ever post-election survey to try to gauge what our audience thought the next 4 years had in store for them personally, and for the economy in general. More than 1,500 respondents shared their opinions and, as you'll see below, they couldn't be more polarized in terms of the outlook.

Effect on the Economy

"What effect do you believe the outcome of the election will have on the economy as a whole?"

1-5 rating scale, where 1 = Extremely negative, 2 = Somewhat negative, 3 = Neither positive nor negative, 4 = Somewhat positive, and 5 = Extremely positive

 Chart 1 - Economy as a Whole

"Pro business perspective. Committed to removing mountains of regulations imposed on large and small business. Appears to favor not crippling our economy to achieve environmental objectives. Understands assembling teams with expertise to achieve goals. unbound by groupthink."Career coach, male, 50+, voted for Trump.

"I think the Trump administration, along with the Republican Congress, will repeal extraneous and burdensome legislation pertaining to corporations and other businesses."—Corporate lawyer, female, 35-39, voted for Trump.

"Trump seems to be in favor of big business and less banking regulation, which I think would help the industry. That being said, who knows what he will actually do once in office."—Corporate lawyer, female, 25-29, voted for Clinton. 

"If environmental regulations are overturned, my industry will collapse."—Environment sector employee, female, 40-44, voted for Clinton.

"Business friendly policies will spur economic growth.  New tax law will give us a lot of new work."—Accountant, female, 45-49, voted for Trump.

Effect on Hiring

"Do you believe thatthe outcome of the election will have any effect on hiring in your industry?"

Chart 2 - Hiring  

"I'm currently studying for an MBA in global management, but now that Trump will be in office, I'm worried about my job prospects abroad. I'd like to think he'd maintain good relations with other countries, but I'm worried he may be as offensive with international leaders as he is with his own citizens and ruin my chances of working around the world."—Retail sector employee, female, 22-24, voted for third party/write-in.

"Have been under employed and struggling since my 2011 layoff. I make 40% less than I did in 2011. Note I went back to finish my college degree, graduating in 2013. My hubby is an electronic engineer who was forced into retirement at 49, due to jobs leaving the US. I am looking forward to rebuilding America and rebuilding my life."—Transportation & Logistics sector employee, female, 50+, voted for Trump.

"I think that, in my particular industry, hiring may go down but I believe that overall there will be a positive change to business operations and job opportunity."—Education sector employee, female, 30-34, voted for Clinton.

"Finally an end to H1-B abuse."—Tech sector employee, male, 40-44, voted for Trump.

"Retreat from globalization will have unpredictable and unsteady effects. Jobs unlikely to return immediately, if at all, while consumer prices will rise due to import barriers."—Antitrust lawyer, male, 25-29, voted for Clinton.

"In marketing, we're always adapting and working with what is new. The results of the election make no difference in funding or operations."—Marketing employee, female, 40-44, voted for Trump.

 

Workplace/Economic Issues

If those previous charts weren't enough of an indication of the different lenses through which supporters of the two main candidates in the election view the outcome of the election, compare the red and blue lines on the next two charts (blue indicates the degree to which a group of respondents thinks the incoming administration will have a positive effect on a specific issue related to employment or the economy; red indicates a negative outlook). As you will see, Clinton and Trump voters hold pretty much opposite beliefs on almost every area, with the exception of one: corporate tax. Which we're choosing to view as a positive: after all this, both sides can still agree on the need to reform taxes for businesses!

"What effect do you think the new administration will have on each of these issues?"

Chart 3 - Trump Econ Issues

 

Chart 4 - Clinton Econ Issues

 

We'll be rolling out a couple more posts on this data in the next few days, including an in-depth look at how respondents from some of our core industries responded. Until then, here's a little demographic information that breaks down who all took our survey:

Who Did You Vote For?

 Chart 5 - Candidate Preference

  • 59% of our respondents were Clinton voters, while 22% voted for Trump.
  • A further 7% opted for a third party/write-in candidate, while 9% did not vote. The remaining 3% chose not to share their political preference.

Age

 Chart 6 - Age

  • 32.5% of our respondents were aged between 18 and 29.
  • 22.5% of respondents were 30-39
  • 15% were in their 40s
  • 27.5% were over the age of 50.

Race/Ethnic Group

  • 2/3 of respondents identified as White/Caucasian
  • 9% identified as Asian
  • 8.5% identified as African-American/Black
  • 6.5% identified as Hispanic/Latino

Industries

All told, we received responses from people in more than 30 industries. However, the most highly represented were as follows:

  • Law: 14.8%
  • Consulting: 13.2%
  • Education: 10.9%
  • Finance and Banking: 9.1%
  • Technology: 6.8%
  • Accounting: 5.8%
  • Healthcare: 4.8%
  • Marketing: 3.2%
  • Government: 3.1%

 

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