• by Larry Kutscher , October 6, 2008

Over the past several months, there has been healthy debate about how much our next president's technological prowess means to voters, and to our country. Will voters ultimately choose the next president based on his Facebook page and email usage--or will more traditional issues (taxes, economy, national security) be more important than the medium through which the candidates communicate?

At Register.com, we work with about 1 million small business owners to help them make an impact on the web - so this topic is of interest to our customers. With this in mind, Register.com conducted an informal survey of our customers back in early September, asking them to rate the Presidential candidates in several categories impacting business, including technology. The answers suggest that while technology-using small businesses value a Presidential candidate's understanding technology, a candidate's personal technology savvy takes a back seat to more traditional issues.

First, let's consider the technology track record of each candidate.

Sen. Barack Obama and his campaign have embraced technology to a level not seen before in Presidential politics. His campaign regularly employs Twitter and other social media tools to communicate with supporters, they have received high marks for their Website and even announced their vice presidential pick via text message. Moreover, he speaks often about the role technology will play in his plans for the economy and energy independence.

By contrast, Sen. John McCain and his campaign appear less technology savvy. While the campaign uses technology tools to communicate their message, it is not a core component of their strategy. Additionally, McCain has admitted to being somewhat of an online novice--telling the New York Times in July he reads e-mail but has never felt the particular need to e-mail.

But will any of this affect voting preference among business owners?

Based on responses to the Register.com customer opinion poll from over 700 small business customers, 53% of respondents think Obama has made better use of the Internet in his campaign (vs. 34% that believes the same about McCain). Moreover, 49% believe Obama has a better understanding of how the Internet can help small businesses (vs. 38% that think McCain has a better understanding of this). These results are not surprising, given how each campaign uses technology and the candidates reported personal technology use (see above).

However, when the questions shifted away from technology usage, to issues of IT security, the role of small business and the overall economy, respondents favored McCain. A greater percentage of respondents (50% vs. 37%) believe McCain will take more action to protect small businesses online by combating Internet security breaches. In addition, more than half (54%) of small businesses believe that McCain is better prepared to manage the overall economy vs. only 36% of respondents that believe the same about Obama.

Ultimately, of the 93% of respondents that indicated they plan to vote in the upcoming election, 50% said they plan to vote for McCain (vs. 35% that plan to vote for Obama).

So what does this all mean?

First, it should be pointed out that Register.com does not endorse either candidate and the opinions expressed through survey are those of the respondents and may not reflect the opinions of Register.com, its investors, employees and staff. That said, the results suggest that while technology-using small businesses value a Presidential candidate's understanding of the role technology can play in helping businesses succeed, a candidate's personal technology savvy takes a back seat to issues like the overall health of the economy, Internet privacy and security and the role of small business in economic development.

Discussions of which candidate spends more time (or any time) reading and writing e-mails might be an interesting media story, but in the end these voters are simply looking for strong leaders with smart ideas...however they may choose to communicate them.