As the dust settles the morning after Massachusetts voters replaced the fallen liberal lion of the Senate with a little-known Republican state senator, experts in both parties will be combing through polling data to see how Scott Brown managed to pull off an upset of historic proportions. And they're likely to find that small-business owners ended up in Brown's camp.

Voters chose Brown to take the seat held for more than 40 years by Edward Kennedy, one of the last great liberal Democrats. Ironically, the choice of Brown will provide Republicans with the 41st vote to block debate on a healthcare bill in the Senate—one of Kennedy’s most passionate causes. President Obama’s and congressional Democrats’ proposals to overhaul the healthcare system clearly helped fuel Brown to a 52 percent to 47 percent victory over Attorney General Martha Coakley.

“From the Berkshires to Boston, from Springfield to Cape Cod, the voters of this Commonwealth defied the odds and the experts. And tonight, the independent majority has delivered a great victory,” Scott said in his victory speech Tuesday night.

For many small-business people, the victory of Brown will be seen as a victory for their worldview. According to the latest poll by American City Business Journals, Portfolio.com’s parent company, some 45 percent of small-business owners nationally identify themselves as Republican, and another 25 percent identify themselves as Independent. Only 22 percent of small-business owners nationwide consider themselves Democrats.

Both Republicans and Independents are more pessimistic about the future of their businesses, perhaps a reflection of their disenchantment with the policies of the Obama administration. About 73 percent of each group thought their business outlook would get a little or a lot better, compared to 80 percent of Democrats.

Godfrey Phillips, ACBJ vice president of research, pointed out that even a majority of Republicans were positive in the survey conducted in December, a marked change from earlier in the year when there was an even wider gap in outlook depending on party.

But, he said of small-business owners nationwide, “There’s so much uncertainty about the health care plan, about the TARP. Your knee-jerk thing would be they want to hold back on the health insurance. They would worry that it would cost more money.

Brown won the support of Tea Party conservatives, but also independents and even Democrats. “I’m hoping that it gives a message to the country,” Marlene Connolly, 73, of North Andover, a lifelong Democrat who said she cast her first vote for a Republican on Tuesday, told the New York Times. “I think if Massachusetts puts Brown in, it’s a message of ‘that’s enough.’ Let’s stop the giveaways and let’s get jobs going.”

Brown’s victory threw immediate questions into whether, when, or what kind of health care reform could pass. Brown has promised to provide the vote opponents need for a successful filibuster, shutting down Senate debate on health care. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, a centrist Democrat, called for a delay on further debate over health care until Brown is seated. House members told the Times they wouldn’t hurry to pass the Senate version of the health care bill.

Bill Vernon, state director of the Brown-backing National Federation of Independent Business in Massachusetts, said that the race had generated passionate feelings and that much of that feeling hinged on health care.

“They’re very excited and motivated,” he said of small-business people who were backing Brown.