Investors are concerned about the stock market, and say a Romney presidency would be the best thing to help both the market and the economy. Despite this belief, three fourths of the money managers surveyed for Barron’s latest Big Money Poll still believed President Obama will be re-elected.
In the cover story of the Oct. 29, 2012 edition of Barron’s, Jacqueline Doherty discussed the results of the paper’s Big Money Poll in regards to the presidential election and the climate of Washington in general. “Investors’ confidence would certainly get a boost if the White House and Congress would address the fiscal cliff before it becomes a cliff-hanger on Dec. 31,” she wrote.
The solution to this imminent fiscal cliff-hanger is extending the Bush tax cuts, according to Doherty. If some sort of action is not taken, the tax cuts will expire at the end of the year which results in “high taxes for individuals and corporations” which could lead to “slower economic growth” she added.
Jon Fisher, a portfolio manager, explained that investors are “nervous” and maybe even a little paranoid. “This market has done a lot of mental damage to people through the years,” he told Barron’s.
While three fourths of investors polled said Obama will be reelected, 79 percent of them also said Romney would benefit the market better and 83 percent think he would be better for the economy. They had many different ideas of the top priorities for Washington, but the top priority, with 33 percent, thought that the president and Congress should focus on entitlement reform.
One person, identified as “Gloomy Gus” in the Barron’s article, explained that without addressing entitlement programs, the economy will continue to drag. “Until somebody steps up and restructures the promises of Social Security and Medicare that cannot be met, the fiscal situation in the U.S. will continue to deteriorate and drag the long-term health of the economy down with it,” he wrote.
While the left and the media continue to make a possible Romney presidency seem like the end of the world, those in the business sector heartily disagree. The Business and Media Institute just released a study [1] on the showing how the media spin the economy in presidential elections.