Many financial experts, including Edward Jones chief market strategist Alan Skrainka, says investors should look past the elections. "As a country, we have experienced many political changes and upheavals, but, over time, our economy has always proven resilient enough to provide opportunities for those people with the faith to invest for the future," Skrainka said. "Even more importantly, however, is the fact that the free-market forces of our capitalistic system are, in my opinion, more powerful than political forces in determining the ultimate performance of investments."
The study of 1,000 respondents, which was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation on behalf of Edward Jones, demonstrates that the country continues to be divided in their perceptions of each party. Interestingly, although Democrats held the overall edge, they were not favored in all age categories. Those closest to retirement favored Republican administration by a margin of 38 to 33 percent.
Geographic preferences also were apparent. The Northeast was only marginally more optimistic about their investment performance under a Democratic administration (39% vs. 36%). However, respondents from the North (49% vs. 33%) and the West (44% vs. 30%) were more certain that their investments would fare better under a Democratic leader. Only in the South did respondents feel that Republicans would be better for their investment portfolio (41% vs. 35%).
The survey showed little difference in opinion between higher earners but highlighted much starker differences for respondents earning under $25,000. More than half (51%) of the respondents earning under $25,000 thought their investments would fare better under a Democratic leadership versus only 28% who responded Republican.
Education had little influence over respondents' choice of party with both high school graduates (42%) and college graduates (41%) opting for Democrats.
