Here’s What Hawai‘i Thinks About Trump and Tax Reform

We included those topics in two statewide surveys: the BOSS Survey of 405 local business leaders and the 808 Poll of 547 members of the general public.

Respondents in both polls were asked how they felt about President Donald Trump’s impact on the local economy.

Note: Percentages do not always add to 100 due to rounding

Business leaders were then asked how they felt Trump would affect their company’s bottom line over the next two years.

Among business leaders: 38% of those in the construction industry were optimistic about his impact on the local economy; only 21% of all other business leaders were optimistic.

Among the general public: 27% of men were optimistic but only 11% of women.

47% of those with a college degree were pessimistic; 29% of those without a degree were pessimistic.

Next, both business leaders and the general public were asked how they believe their personal finances would be affected by the Trump presidency.

Splits that appeared in responses to the first question reappeared here.

Among business leaders, 54% of those in the construction industry were optimistic versus only 36% among all other business leaders. Among the general public, 35% of men were optimistic but only 18% of women.

National Tax Reform

Each respondent was asked for their personal thoughts on how Hawai‘i would be further affected by the tax reform approved by Congress and signed by Trump at the end of 2017. Would the tax changes have a positive, negative or no effect on Hawai‘i? We also asked this question in a 2018 BOSS poll of business leaders, so we included those earlier results.

Among the general public, wealthier people were more likely to say tax reform will have a positive effect locally.

We asked business leaders this year and last year how they believed this tax reform would impact their companies directly: positively, negatively or no impact?

Note: Percentages do not always add to 100 due to rounding

On O‘ahu, 34% of business leaders were optimistic compared to only 22% of Neighbor Island business leaders.

Next, business leaders and the general public were asked how they believe their personal finances will be affected by federal tax changes.

Among the general public, Caucasian males 32% were the group most likely to believe they will personally benefit from tax reform. The next highest number was the 21% of Japanese males who felt they would benefit. Just 4% of Japanese females believe they will benefit.

Methodology: The BOSS Survey and 808 Poll are conducted twice a year for Hawaii Business Magazine by the Research Division of the Anthology Marketing Group. To read the methodology for both, go to hawaiibusiness.com/pollmethod2019.