CareerBuilder Survey Asks Workers Which Presidential Candidate They Would Prefer as Their Boss

CHICAGO and ATLANTA – November 3, 2016 – Citizens across the United States are preparing to cast their ballot on Tuesday, November 8 and bring an end to what has been a very contentious Presidential election. While there are dozens of foreign and domestic policies to consider, CareerBuilder asks one important question: “If you had to choose, which candidate would you like to be your boss?”

According to a new survey, 57 percent of workers say they would prefer to work for the former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton – while the remaining 43 percent say they would like businessman Donald Trump as a boss.

Hillary Clinton was firmly preferred by women in the survey with 62 percent saying they would prefer the former Senator as a boss. Men were tighter in their decision between candidates, with an even split between Clinton and Trump.

The national study was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder from August 11 to September 7, 2016 and included a representative sample of 3,133 full-time workers in the private sector across industries and company sizes.

Candidate/Boss Preference by Race

Each candidate has fought to secure votes from members of every racial background throughout the election season. But, which candidate would each demographic prefer to report to at work?

Fifty-two percent of workers that identify as Caucasian would like Donald Trump as their boss. On the other hand, Hillary Clinton was the preferred choice among African American (87 percent), Hispanic (79 percent) and Asian (78 percent) professionals.

Candidate/Boss Preference by Industry

Creating a stable economy that brings fruitful job growth is also a tenet to any great candidacy. Presidential hopefuls address various industries throughout their campaign speeches to garner support. A larger proportion of workers in the manufacturing industry would prefer to work for Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton. However, Secretary Clinton was favored in the other industries in the survey.

Industry	Hillary Clinton	Donald Trump
Health Care	63%	37%
Retail	58%	42%
Leisure & Hospitality	52%	48%
IT	58%	42%
Manufacturing	45%	55%
Financial Services	60%	40%
Transportation	52%	48%

How to Handle Talking Politics in the Workplace

“Employees may be tempted to openly discuss the coming election over the next few days, and we all know that politics in particular can lead to some pretty heated conversations,” says Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer for CareerBuilder. “Keep topics fair and respectful to others – especially those that may be within earshot and not directly involved in the discussion.”

Haefner provides some other tips for political chit-chat in the office:

• Recognize there’s a thin line between freedom of expression and a potential source of conflict. Consider providing respect and dignity behavioral training to all employees and emphasize tolerance for different ideas, beliefs and needs.
• Ensure your harassment policies and harassment complaint system are posted and that employees are trained in the process. Similarly, make sure employees are aware of any guidelines that prohibit bringing campaign materials into the office.
• Create a culture of open dialogue and mutual respect, but if conversations do turn heated, encourage employees to walk away.

Survey Methodology

The survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 3,133 employees ages 18 and over (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) between August 11 and September 7, 2016. With a pure probability sample of 3,133, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1.75 percentage points.

About CareerBuilder®

CareerBuilder is the only end-to-end human capital management company covering the entire candidate lifecycle and employee lifecycle for businesses. As the global leader in its industry, CareerBuilder specializes in cutting-edge HR software as a service to help companies with every step of talent acquisition and management. CareerBuilder works with top employers across industries, providing solutions for talent and labor market analytics, job distribution, candidate sourcing, tracking, onboarding, HRIS, benefits administration and compliance. It also operates leading job sites around the world. Owned by TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA), Tribune Media (NYSE:TRCO) and McClatchy (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

Media Contact

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