Presidential election year

[Rich]

Having been in business for many election cycles, I've come to find that election campaign years are usually bad for business because of people's uncertainty of the future. This one has been unaffected in my experience though and I think it may be because most people feel that no matter who our next president is, it has got to be better than it's been.
Any personal insights on this?
Rich

[sofadoc]

I've seen my business affected by various economic downturns over the years.

The only one that I could directly associate with an election year, was when H.G. Bush lost to Clinton.

The Gulf War had ended much quicker than anyone expected, and now all the war bills were coming due. All this happened during the summer leading up to the November election. The country went into a deep recession, which probably cost Bush the election.

It was the only time in my career that I completely ran out of work. Things were very slow for 2 or 3 months. I came very close to going out and getting a non-upholstery job.

I don't recall any other election years affecting my business.

[kodydog]

Our yearly cycle generally runs like this. April through December we are swamped. We usually have enough overflow to get us through January and February. March is usually dead. And even though this happens every year it still kind of freaks me out.

The only time we completely ran out of work was right after the great recession of 2007-09. Things were slow for a few years. We both had to find jobs working for someone else. Rose still works for the Fl dept of revenue. Even though we're busier than before we still haven't fully recovered.

I don't ever remember being slow during election years but it could be I just wasn't paying attention.

[gene]

I don't know that election years in particular have affected my business, other than taxes keep going up.

I do feel a bigger sense of negativity than ever before about the future of our economy no matter who gets elected. I think this might be a function of me just getting older.

gene

[MinUph]

Yes Gene, Getting old does make a change on the outlook of things and the perception of the world. For me each election year I see less and less positiveness in candidates. Less being done to make things better. I hate being negative. I am so sick of politicians saying the same things over and over.

  As for a slowdown in business I have never put the two things together. Maybe it is a fact but I never thought about the two in the same sentence.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

This is my first presidential election as a small business owner so have no idea.  Right now, it's a little quiet but I need it to be.  I've turned away 4 or 5 jobs of different sorts.  Do have one coming in tomorrow.  By the time I get fabric ordered, tear out done, etc I'll be out of my brace and hopefully good as new.  

I do think that there is a candidate who could make a positive difference.


Virginia

[MinUph]

I do too Virginia

[Rich]

Most of my business life has been spent only an hour from Washington DC, so that may be why I'm more susceptible to this. It may be that in an election year, many are wondering if they'll have a job when the new president comes in.
Rich

[Mike]

me ive only ran out of work once in this biz. I think it was fall  2012. this year has been busier then ever, but the boat dealer were my shop is has said thve been slow sales this season possibly dou to the election

[gene]

Yes Gene, Getting old does make a change on the outlook of things and the perception of the world. For me each election year I see less and less positiveness in candidates. Less being done to make things better. I hate being negative. I am so sick of politicians saying the same things over and over.

I recently listened to two books on tape by George Carlin. He certainly got negative about most everything in the later years of his life. He was still very funny, though.

I read an article that said the reason politicians all say the same thing is because as soon as they say something specific the news media is showing people who disagree with them, no matter what they say.

Change. We need change. We need to work for a better future. It is all sloganeering. Symbolism over substance.

gene

[sofadoc]

It is all sloganeering. Symbolism over substance.

When politicians say "We need to all work together!", they usually get a huge round of applause, high-fives, and fist-pumps.

Wow! they've just made a profound statement that nobody ever thought of before. Working together.......what a concept! But none of them ever have any insight on how to go about doing  that.

Any time someone says "Can't we all work together?", what they really mean is "Can't we all do it my way?"

For me each election year I see less and less positiveness in candidates. Less being done to make things better. I hate being negative.

I don't recall ever voting in any election when I didn't feel like I was just choosing the "lesser of two evils". This November will be no exception.

[gene]

Do we get cynical and pessimistic as we get older or do the years of experience allow us to just see things more clearly?

choosing the "lesser of two evils"

These folks did not have to choose the lesser of two evils.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cat-mayor-alaska-town-15-years-article-1.1116263

gene

[baileyuph]

Probably the latter is the case, we have been down the road a few times by now.

How a candidate sounds when running isn't always what you get.  Thinking back on a couple elections....I guess. 

My time is too important to get overly absorbed in the stuff.  I do take time to read along the course of evens and vote.

Doyle

[SteveA]

A strong case for Trump is that folks are tired of typical candidates  - is it time to vote for someone other than a politician ?
Doyle if you were the guy who lost a factory job and in debt you might be overly absorbed. 
What drives me crazy is the inability of the elected party to work with the other side.
SA

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

One of the MANY negatives for Trump is that 3 or 4 (early and forget which -- going out this morning so don't have time to surf the web looking for the correct number) of his corporations have gone bankrupt.  Doesn't seem like Trump is the right businessperson to "lead us into the light" as the saying goes.

Virginia