Small business owners are doing OK – but will that help Trump overcome his low approval ratings?

Overall, economic sentiment for Trump is poor, but small businesses seem fairly confident, according to several surveys There are 34m small businesses in the United States. They employ approximately half of the country’s workers and generate about half of the country’s GDP. They’re an important voting block. So how are they feeling about the economy as we head into November’s midterm elections?
Overall, economic sentiment for Donald Trump is poor but small business – admittedly a diverse demographic that’s hard to poll – seems fairly confident. A number of recently published surveys and reports can help understand their mood. Confidence is generally stable.
Read in depth: Business
Etsy restricts AI-generated patterns and recipes under new seller rules
Sellers must show real results for instructional downloads and disclose AI use in permitted artwork as Etsy tightens its marketplace rules.
Telegraph begins redundancy consultation as Axel Springer sets out AI-led expansion
Telegraph Media Group has begun consulting staff over job cuts while outlining plans to reorganise the publisher, expand abroad and develop new revenue streams. It has not...
Sources and context
The GuardianSource headline and summary supplied via NewsData.io. First collected by NewsJaws on 2026-10-19. This is an automated news brief, not original NewsJaws reporting. Dates reflect the source publication. Feed delays may apply.