Disqus Refugees

View Original

Wall Street is betting big that Biden will beat Trump: CNN

With November’s election less than 40 days away, CNN is reporting Wall Street executives and investors are reading the writing on the wall and flooding the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with cash at five times the rate Donald Trump is getting contributions.

Noting that in 2016 former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also outraised Trump to the tune of $88 million to Trump’s $20.8 million, CNN reports the disparity in the percentage of donations split between the two major-party candidates ($51.1 million to Biden and $10.5 million to Trump’s presidential campaign) has grown this time — which is not good news for an incumbent who already handed the ultra-rich a substantial tax decrease. 

According to the report a possible contributing factor in the race for campaign contributions from investors is the fact that many of them reside in the Democratic strongholds of New York City, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco — all of which have come under attack by Trump.

According to Ed Mills, policy analyst at Raymond James, “The bigger deal is where you live versus where you work. It’s as simple as that.”

The flood of cash to Biden is all the more surprising in that investors are wary of another “Blue wave” election like the one in 2018 that led to a Democratic takeover of the House and a narrowing of the difference between Democratic and Republican seats in the Senate.

Despite reports that Biden is likely to increase corporate taxes should he win, CNN reports investment banks still prefer the former vice president to the volatile Trump.

“For instance, Biden has raised $156,584 from individuals at Goldman Sachs, according to OpenSecrets. With just $11,943 in contributions, Trump ranks a staggering 45th among federal campaign recipients — well behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, US Senator Lindsey Graham, Graham’s opponent Jaime Harrison and Andrew Yang, a CNN political commentator who has called for universal basic income,” the report states, adding, “At Citigroup, Trump has been outraised by Biden as well as Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Yang, vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris and US Senator Doug Jones.”

“It’s not just Wall Street that is snubbing Trump,” the CNN report continues. “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. Trump is even narrowly trailing Biden in fundraising from real estate, the industry where he made a name for himself on the national stage. Biden and outside groups aligned with him have raised $19.8 million from real estate, compared with $16.7 million for Trump.”