As America prepares to go to the polls for its presidential election on 2 November, recruiters in the US are backing George W Bush to win.

According to a survey by senior level job-board ExecuNet, more than half (54%) think a Bush victory would be better for the executive employment market than if the Democrat candidate John Kerry gets into the White House.

Two-thirds of ExecuNet’s sample said they are confident Bush will win the election, compared with only 12% for Kerry. Only 19% of those questioned believe a Kerry victory would have a positive effect.

Dave Opton, chief executive of ExecuNet, said the results of the survey reflected greater optimism about the current job market. In the last three months, ExecuNet has seen a double-digit increase in the number of members who have landed jobs. “While Republicans are typically perceived to be more business-friendly than Democrats, the support for Bush could also reflect what’s happening in the market,” said Opton.

However, the latest job creation figures from the US tell a different story. The US created only 96,000 jobs during September, way below analysts’ expectations of 150,000. Bush will go into the elections with the worst job creation record since Herbert Hoover in 1932.