Donations Reveal Who Are Wall Street’s Favorites in the Race for the U.S. Presidency

Donors from Wall Street can help candidates as much as they can harm them in gathering votes, especially among those voters who blame bankers for the financial crisis that erupted in 2008 and the major recession that followed.

Republican candidate Marco Rubio has received the most money from Wall Street donors among the candidates in the race for the U.S. presidency, while Donald Trump has received only about $1,500, according to an analysis by Reuters based on publicly available campaign finance data.

Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida, has received over $4 million from employees of banks and investment firms, such as Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs Group, since announcing his candidacy for the presidential race last year, according to an analysis of individual donations that were over $200.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who withdrew from the race on Saturday due to poor results in the primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, is second in terms of donations from Wall Street, with $2.45 million raised. In third place is Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton with $723,361.

As the number of candidates in the Republican camp narrows, Marco Rubio could receive new donations. Shortly after Jeb Bush dropped out of the race, several of his donors told Reuters that they were preparing to shift their financial support to Rubio.

Donors from Wall Street can help candidates as much as they can harm them in gathering votes, especially among those voters who blame bankers for the financial crisis that erupted in 2008 and the major recession that followed.

– The very idea of raising money on Wall Street is tricky. Even on the Republican side, there is a certain distrust within the base regarding that sector, said University of Iowa professor Tim Hagle.

However, Hagle also stated that financial support could help Rubio as he seeks to become the Republican challenger to Donald Trump.

Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and Republican Donald Trump have received the least amounts from Wall Street. This is not surprising as Sanders blames Wall Street for the financial crisis and promises to break up the big banks. He has raised $26,650 from banking employees since announcing his candidacy, which is just a tiny amount of the total $96 million raised.

Business executive and billionaire Trump, who self-funds his campaign, has raised only $1,566 from bank employees. Most of the money for his campaign comes from merchandise sales through his website.