Accountants and the 2024 election: The home stretch

October 24, 2024 2:00 PM

As the 2024 presidential election enters the homestretch, the accounting profession looks set to lean heavily toward voting Republican — though not quite as heavily as in previous elections, particularly at the presidential level.

The research was conducted online among Accounting Today readers between Sept. 10 and Sept. 27 with 407 accounting and tax professionals from across the country; it follows up on similar research we conducted earlier in the year.

For more on the respondents' take on the current political climate and which post-election issues will impact accounting and tax pros the most, see "A plague on both your (political) parties."

When it comes to the presidential race, sentiment in the accounting profession has swung firmly behind the Republicans, with most of those who were undecided (or chose not express a preference) in the spring lining up behind former president Donald Trump,

That 45% more or less matches the number who preferred Trump in 2020, but is well below the two-thirds who voted for him in 2016, which was in keeping with how the profession generally voted in presidential elections before that.

The former president may have their votes, but not necessarily their confidence: Only 41% think he's likely to win, versus 59% who think Vice president Kamala Harris. National polls still have them neck and neck, however.

Opinions are more closely divided when it comes to who accountants think will run the Senate: Just over half think the Republican will take over the chamber (which is in line with many national predictions at the moment).

Interestingly, accountants are much more confident that the GOP will keep control of the House of Representatives — though pollsters and professional election watchers suggest there's a strong change the Democrats will take over.

Regardless of who they think will win, our respondents had strong opinions about who should win: Over half thought that it would be better for the profession for the Republicans to take the presidency, the House and the Senate, while just a third felt that Democratic wins would be good for accounting.

Economic, tax and regulatory concerns dominate the issues they most want the next administration to focus on.

Accountants are more likely to be registered Republicans than the general population (37% of our survey, versus 29% of the general population, according to recent Gallup polls), and much less likely to be registered Democrats (21%, versus 30% of voters nationwide).

One thing almost every survey respondent agreed on was that President Joe Biden made the right choice in stepping down as a candidate — including a significant portion of those who are strongly opposed to Kamala Harris as a candidate.

Like much of the population, accountants are pretty dissatisfied with the current political environment; most cite political polarization, bitter partisanship, and political gridlock as the primary causes of their dissatisfaction, though a small but significant minority blamed it squarely on whoever they were voting against.

How will you vote?