Where Main Street stands on the state of economy and President Biden

As President Joe Biden prepares to deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday night amid a war in Ukraine that has enflamed global tensions, added to stock market volatility and increased inflationary pressures on the economy, small business owners are among the audiences that Biden needs to win back.

Biden’s approval rating with small business owners remains underwater, according to the recent CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey for Q1 2022.

One-third (33%) of small business owners approve of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as president, while 67% disapprove, slightly lower than where his approval rating was in Q4 2021 and the lowest approval marks for the president since he took office.

While the small business community skews conservative overall and Biden’s approval rating is extremely low among Republicans (5%), in Q1 it slipped the most among small business owners who are Democrats (89% in Q4, 83% now). However, Biden’s approval increased among independents (33% in Q4, 42% now), which is in contrast to other recent public polling of Americans who don’t affiliate with either major party.

Along racial and ethnic lines, Biden’s approval rating is lowest among white business owners (NET -42), but he still gets high marks from Black small business owners (NET +22).

Biden’s overall approval from small business owners matches the 33% of owners who describe current business conditions are good.

The survey was conducted among over 2,000 small business owners across the U.S. before the outbreak of war in Ukraine. The war will be a dominant theme in the speech, but with oil prices hitting a seven-year high on Tuesday and wheat prices surging to a level not seen since 2008 as a result of the conflict, Biden will also be pressed to address the inflationary pressures that were already sweeping through the small business sector and impacting business decisions and confidence on Main Street.

The White House has been signaling that in addition to a focus on Russia and Ukraine, President Biden will use the speech to make his case for a strong economy, while acknowledging inflation.

“As CNBC and NFIB surveys show, small business owners continue to struggle with economic headwinds including workforce shortages, rising inflation, and supply chain disruptions with little relief in sight,” said Kevin Kuhlman, director of government relations at NFIB. “Early materials and messaging appear that President Biden will acknowledge the challenges of inflation,” he said, but he added that NFIB remains worried about policy proposals including paid family and medical leave mandates and federal minimum wage hikes, which could further pressure small businesses, and continued focus on union-friendly legislation.

The White House highlighted paid leave mandates, a higher minimum wage, as well as its…