Many wealthy Wall Street executives who contributed to President Trump’s 2016 campaign have closed their checkbooks to the incumbent, choosing instead to contribute to vulnerable Republican congressional candidates.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden entered October with $432 million to spend during the final month of the campaign, far ahead of the $251.4 million available to Trump. Similarly, Republican super PACs are being outspent by their Democratic counterparts. One reason could be the drop-off in donations from Republican donors who work in finance.
Four years ago, they contributed $20 million to the president’s campaign and various outside groups working to elect him. This time around, these Republican financiers have given just $13 million to entities dedicated to helping Trump win a second term, according to figures provided to CNBC by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Contributions instead have flowed to Republicans running for the House and the Senate who are in danger of being swamped by a fundraising tsunami fueled by enthusiastic grassroots Democrats.
“Wall Street craves policy, predictability, and strong government institutions. Trump has delivered the opposite. The COVID crisis gave Wall Streeters the excuse they needed to move,” said a GOP operative who advises an ex-Trump donor who works in finance, according to a report by CNBC’s Brian Schwartz.
Wall Street was thrilled with the $1.3 trillion tax overhaul Trump signed into law in late 2017. But it had soured on his disruptive style of leadership, and people were particularly unhappy with his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Some have been discouraged from giving because of concerns that the Trump campaign has mismanaged its books. The reduction in contributions by the finance industry to the president has extended to Republican donors who helped fund his inauguration festivities.
“Many of the people who donated to his inaugural committee have disappeared from the fundraising scene,” CNBC reported.
Biden is pledging to raise taxes on people earning more than $400,000 per year and on corporations. But the former vice president is nonetheless raising big money from Wall Street donors. The prospect is appealing, in their view, that a Biden presidency would be more predictable and stable. In the third quarter, Biden and his associated political committees raised $4 million from finance executives.
Overall, the Biden campaign and outside groups supporting the Democratic nominee have received more than $50 million from donors working in finance.
