Wall Street is shunning Trump. Campaign donations to Biden are five times larger
That means Trump is losing the fundraising race among Wall Streeters by a slightly greater magnitude than in 2016. During that cycle, former New York Senator Hillary Clinton and groups aligned with her raised $88 million from the securities and investment industry, while Trump took in just $20.8 million.
In some ways, Wall Street’s preference for Democrats in the last two presidential cycles makes sense. After all, many people who work in the industry reside in deep blue cities including New York City, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.
“The bigger deal is where you live versus where you work. It’s as simple as that,” said Ed Mills, policy analyst at Raymond James.
In 2008 the securities industry donated $19 million to Barack Obama’s campaign, nearly doubling the $10.4 million raised by Republican Senator John McCain, according to OpenSecrets.
Blue Wave fears on Wall Street
And yet the fact that Trump has been outraised so badly — by a wider margin so far than Republicans were outraised in 2008 or 2016 — is surprising because analysts warn that his opponent could be a nightmare for Wall Street.
Boutique investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) told clients Friday that the best-case scenario for big bank stocks is a Trump win with continued GOP control of the US Senate. That would signal a continuation of light regulation and low taxes.
The worst case, according to the bank: a blue wave that gives Democrats control of both the White House and the US Senate, paving the way to higher corporate taxes, tax hikes on the wealthy and tougher regulation on banks.
Let that sink in for a moment.
But all the big banks are backing Biden
But a CNN Business analysis of OpenSecrets research shows that Biden is beating Trump in fundraising from all of America’s big banks — in some cases by wide margins.
But it’s not just Goldman Sachs, whose employees have historically supported Democrats. (Former Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Corzine later served as the Democratic governor and US senator from New Jersey.)
At Bank of America, Biden has raised $275,200, compared with Trump’s $164,911.
Biden was seen as ally of credit card companies
Compare this situation with 2012, when Wall Street sent $63.9 million to Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential nominee and a former private equity executive, according to OpenSecrets. Obama raised just $19.4 million from the industry during that cycle.
Sheila Krumholz, executive director for the Center for Responsive Politics, which runs OpenSecrets, said Wall Street could have a certain comfort level with Biden. Not only did Biden serve as vice president for eight years, but for decades he represented Delaware, a state that is home to major credit card companies.
“Biden was seen for many years as a close friend of major credit card companies. He’s certainly not leading from the left wing of the party,” Krumholz said.
In other words, if Sanders or Senator Elizabeth Warren were the Democratic nominee, the fundraising totals could look very different.
It’s not just Wall Street that is snubbing Trump. The broader sector encompassing finance, insurance and real estate also tilts heavily blue, sending $86.7 million to Biden and outside groups that support the Democrat. By contrast, Trump has received only $50.4 million from the finance sector.
The fundraising totals suggest many in finance have decided they can live with a Biden presidency, even if that risks smaller paychecks.
