In mid-March, when CFO.com asked readers what will be the most-discussed issue in this year’s U.S. presidential election, 68 percent replied “offshoring of U.S. jobs.” As President George Bush and his likely Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry, might have guessed, that answer far outweighed the combined responses for U.S. competitiveness, the federal trade deficit, personal and corporate taxes, and investor confidence.
A week later, we asked a follow-up: “ ’Offshoring’ gets the headlines, but if you were the next president’s economic adviser, which would be your top concern?”
This time, offshoring wasn’t even close. About one-third of CFO.com readers replied that U.S. competitiveness (35 percent) or the federal trade deficit (32 percent) should be the top economic concern on the next president’s agenda. Offshoring (12 percent) was accorded about the same level of importance as investor confidence (11 percent) and personal and corporate taxes (10 percent).
Our polls were for readers of CFO.com, not all of whom are necessarily readers of CFO magazine. The results are not scientific; they represent the answers only of those readers who chose to participate.