As Mitt Romney accepts the Republican Party’s presidential nomination this week, he will try to convince voters across the nation that he has the executive experience and business savvy needed to strengthen its economy – and that he’s the best person to lead the country.
Americans may be evenly divided on that question – Romney leads President Obama 47 percent to 46 percent in a new Washington Post/ABC News poll of registered voters – but Wall Street has already made its presidential preference clear. After supporting Obama in 2008, financial firms and the people who work at them have lined up squarely behind Romney, the man from Bain Capital, this year. So far this election cycle, workers in the securities and investment industries have donated $11.5 million to Romney compared with $4.2 million to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. As of August 21, the five largest contributors to the Romney campaign's war chest have all been big financial institutions (see chart below).
Overall, the securities and investment industries have given more than $67 million to Republican campaigns and less than $40 million to Democrats. That excludes contributions to Super PACs, where the balance of Wall Street donations has been even more skewed toward Romney and conservative groups. Donors in the securities and investment industries have given nearly $51 million to outside groups this election cycle, with nearly $44 million of that going to conservative groups, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
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| Top Contributors to the Presidential Candidates | ||||||
| Barack Obama | Mitt Romney | |||||
| University of California | $491,868 | Goldman Sachs | $676,080 | |||
| Microsoft Corp. | $443,748 | JPMorgan Chase & Co | $520,299 | |||
| Google Inc. | $357,382 | Morgan Stanley | $513,647 | |||
| DLA Piper | $331,715 | Bank of America | $510,728 | |||
| Harvard University | $317,516 | Credit Suisse Group | $427,560 | |||
| Source: Center for Responsive Politics; Data as of 8/21/2012 | ||||||
