On the fence: A small business owner wants her candidate to say the right thing
As Election Day nears, Olalah Njenga is still looking for answers. She’s the owner of YellowWood Group, a small strategic market research firm in Raleigh, N.C., and though she had her sights set on participating in her state’s early voting option, she still can’t make up her mind who she wants to run the country for the next four years.
We met Njenga last week as Marketplace’s Election Road Show passed through Raleigh, and she joined us on stage to explain her trouble deciding. But despite talking it through on stage, and after a two-year campaign for her vote, there’s something holding her back from checking the box for Romney: She’s still looking for the “how” in his ambitious plans to reshape taxing and spending in the U.S.
“I really need to support something that I understand how it will be implemented and what I can expect as a result,” she says. “Unfortunately, Mr. Romney has failed that test. I had been holding out hope, and it’s taken three debates and a storm…and he still has not given us that information.”
Njenga admires Romney’s leadership ability and what she perceives as his understanding of money and what it takes to run a business, but as time runs out, without that crucial “how,” she finds herself leaning toward Obama. At this point, to get her vote, Romney will need to speak directly to her — literally. She says if Romney calls her cell to do some explaining, she’ll take the call.
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