American Executives Cast Their Votes for Ronald Reagan

TheLadders.com Survey of $100k Job Seekers Finds ìGreat Communicatorî Favorite Among Past Presidents; Obama and McCain in a Dead Heat for í08

With the 2008 presidential election rapidly becoming a personality contest, TheLadders.com, the worldís leading online marketplace for $100k jobs, sought some perspective from American businesspeople on what they are looking for in a president. According to a survey of over 1,300 executives, Ronald Reagan is the answer.

History as a Guide?
When asked who they would choose if they could elect any former president in U.S. history in 2008, 31 percent of the executives surveyed chose Ronald Reagan by a wide margin. The former president receiving the second-place vote was John F. Kennedy, who was chosen by 15.8 percent of executives. Kennedy was followed by Bill Clinton, with 11.4 percent of the vote and Franklin Roosevelt, with 8.2% of the vote.

Among the current candidates, John McCain was the lead contender, earning 35 percent of executive votes. However, Barack Obama came in a very close second place with 33.9 percent of the vote, followed by Hillary Clinton with 25.2 percent. Mike Huckabee, the other Republican hopeful, earned just 2 percent of the vote, raising the prospect of a Democratic victory among executives once the field of candidates has narrowed.

Eye on the Issues
When it comes to the myriad issues confronting the next President of the United States of America, the war in Iraq is top on the minds of executives. Forty one percent of those surveyed said Iraq is the most important issue in the election, followed by healthcare (21.6 percent), the mortgage mess (19 percent) and the stock market (12 percent).

If elected to office themselves, 31 percent of executives said the first thing they would do as President would be to pull out of Iraq. Another 26.2 percent would devote themselves to reforming healthcare and 20 percent would fix social security. Thirteen percent said the first thing they would do would be to call their moms from the Oval Office.

The one thing nearly all executives surveyed agreed on universally was that 2008 is a monumental election year. Eighty two percent of respondents said they believe our future depends on this election.

ìAmerican executives feel very strongly about our current political issues,î said Marc Cenedella, CEO and founder of TheLadders.com. ìAs our survey results show, there are wide ranging differences of opinion even among people with similar socioeconomic backgrounds. While this will certainly be an interesting race to watch unfold, executive job seekers should take note that itís never safe to assume you know where a boss, a co-worker or a recruiter sits politically. Job seekers in the private sector should make a point of being informed about the issues ñ particularly those that affect their businesses ñ so they can discuss them without necessarily revealing too strong a position.î

TheLadders.com survey was conducted in February 2008 and included 1,381 executives. The results of this survey are statistically accurate to within 2.64 percentage points.