Bucking the trend: Miami business leaders back Obama

Republicans can normally count on business community leaders to support the party’s presidential candidate, but Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce members are bucking that trend and throwing their support behind U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, according to a chamber survey.

Despite criticism from the right that Obama has the most liberal voting record in the Senate, 46 percent of the chamber members said they plan to vote for Obama, according to a survey by the chamber. Only 25 percent said they favored Sen. John McCain. The survey results were released by the chamber Tuesday.

McCain still has a chance to make up the deficit in support from the chamber, as 28 percent of the survey respondents said they are still undecided. Should either candidate schedule another trip to Miami to address the business community, especially in the midst of frantic efforts in Washington, D.C., to rescue the economy?

It wouldn’t hurt, chamber leaders say.

“With such a large number of undecideds, it seems both candidates have a lot of work left to do to win the votes of South Florida business,” chamber chairman Carlos Fernandez-Gusman said in a statement. “We hope to see both candidates here in the near future to address the concerns of the business community.”

The survey also included questions about chamber members’ expectations for the region’s economy and their own businesses. With members ranking both categories on a scale of 1 to 10, respondents averaged 5.58 in their expectations for South Florida’s economy and 6.7 for their own businesses.

Comments

[Edward Redlich]

Miami businessmen should know better. NAFTA is one of the greatest, largest free trade agreements ever signed. Miami is an international city that has benefited greatly by NAFTA, yet Obama opposes NAFTA and is on record several times. He has changed his rhetoric since being in the general election now. During the primary Obama was very anti-NAFTA and free trade. Obama would rather meet with Hugo Chavez than Uribe or Calderon. Obama is also for bigger government, tax increases, intervention, more social programs which all harm Miami's small businesses and entrepreneurs.