With just one day left before Election Day in the US, a new poll shows members of Bermuda’s largest business sector favour Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama.According to a BestWeek poll released early to The Royal Gazette, more than 60 percent of those polled in the insurance industry say they would vote for Romney over Obama.BestWeek, which is part of the news division for ratings agency AM Best, polled nearly 600 US-based people in the insurance industry between September 20 and October 23.Of the 588 respondents, 363 said they would vote for Romney compared with 208 or just 35.4 percent for President Obama.During the 2008 election, Obama fell well behind in a similar BestWeek survey, but by November 1 had gained nearly 10 percentage points to triumph over Republican nominee Sen John McCain.Some 45.2 percent of the most recent survey’s respondents said they were Republicans; 34.2 percent said they were independent; and 20.6 percent described themselves as Democrats.Since Romney gained 17 percent above his party affiliation compared to 15 percent for Obama, the numbers seem to indicate that independent voters in this poll have a slight preference for Romney.About 94 percent said they were positive they would vote for their candidate, and another 4.1 percent were leaning toward one candidate. Confidence that their pick has strong knowledge of the insurance industry however, wasn’t as high.About 47 percent thought the candidates knew the insurance industry very well, while another 45.9 percent said the candidates understood it somewhat well.Another 6.5 percent said the candidates did not understand the industry very well.Nearly half of the respondents were from the property/casualty sector; 16.8 percent agent/broker, 12.9 percent in life/health, 6.3 percent in reinsurance, 2.4 percent in claims adjustment and 12.1 percent in other sectors.While the US Presidential Election could have far-reaching consequences here in Bermuda, many here are divided on what might be in the Island’s best interest.Many in the insurance industry say the pro-business policies of Mitt Romney could be better for Bermuda.One insurance executive who spoke to The Royal Gazette but wished to remain anonymous said while he knows and likes Barack Obama personally, he won’t be voting for him.“I know him and he’s a genuinely bright, charismatic guy. But his world was academics and politics, not business. And I don’t think he has an intuitive feel for how people running businesses think — what worries them, what kinds of things they need to get over to feel better about taking risk and hiring people,” the source said.“Mitt Romney lived and breathed American business. He may not get elected, but he comes from the corporate world and he gets it.”A second AM Best survey shows a majority of about 380 respondents see implementation of the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as “ObamaCare”, as the most important topic state regulators face.About 53.3 percent named ACA implementation as the top issue, especially establishing health exchanges. When asked whether opponents of the new healthcare reforms should continue trying to reverse its provisions or contest them in court, 55.4 percent of the respondents said they should, with 36.6 percent saying no.Another 21 percent surveyed cited creating a relationship with the Federal Insurance Office and the Financial Stability Oversight Council as a top challenge while 14.8 percent named implementing the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Own Risk Solvency Assessment Model Law.Under ORSA, insurance companies that have annual premiums of more than $500 million and insurance groups with $1 billion would be required to submit “high-level” reports outlining their enterprise risk management processes, any risks that the company or group might face going forward and to demonstrated that they have enough capital to meet risk. The ORSA Model Law is seen as a way to bring the US regulatory regime into greater alignment with Solvency II.Also, 10.9 percent of the respondents cited working with international regulators to ensure the US solvency system is equivalent to Solvency II as most important.