A Stanford study finds business owners vote Republican by nearly 18 points, yet their political power remains untapped

If Republicans want to win the 2026 midterms, they need to take a close look at America’s small businesses.

The White House certainly has. This week, the White House launched National Small Business Week to celebrate their contribution to the economy and to jobs.

But small business owners will also hold the key to who wins, and who loses, this November.

There are more than 36.8 million small businesses in the U.S., if we count companies with 500 employees or fewer.

Here are some basic stats regarding their importance to the U.S. economy:

• They employ 46% of the private sector workforce. That’s more than 62 million jobs.
• More than 96% have fewer than 10 employees, from grocery stores and laundromats to doctors, lawyers and accountants.
• They created upwards of 20.7 million jobs between 1996 and 2024.
• They are prime drivers of innovation in the U.S. economy, with companies of 5–9 employees holding more patents per employee than any other entity.
• They are prime drivers of the U.S. reindustrialization movement. According to the nonprofit organization SCORE, approximately 98% of all U.S. manufacturers employ fewer than 500 employees.

But here are some hard truths about what it takes to be a small business owner:

According to the Tax Foundation, federal, state and local taxes eat up 20–30% of the earned income of small business owners.

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