Business

Wall Street switches horses, backs Romney

Meagan Clark Contributor
Font Size:

America’s biggest banks and investment firms generously supported President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, but the same donors are putting their money on Mitt Romney in 2012.

Romney’s top five campaign donors are individuals and political action committees connected to the financial services sector, while Obama’s top five come from individuals and PACs linked to technology giants Google and Microsoft, and international law firms DLA Piper and Sidley Austin, according to the Boston Globe. None are connected to financial institutions.

In 2008, four of the five top Obama campaign donor groups were connected to financial institutions. Goldman Sachs held the top slot; JPMorgan Chase was third.

“There’s no doubt that there’s been a big diminution of support for the president,” Obama’s former chief of staff and former JP Morgan executive, William M. Daley, told the Boston Globe.

Obama touted Wall Street reform Monday on the ABC-TV daytime talk show “The View.”

“You could have a bank that isn’t as strong [as JPMorgan Chase], isn’t as profitable, making those same bets and we might have had to step in,” Obama said.

One “step in” includes the Volcker Rule of the 2010 Dodd-Frank banking reform regulations, which would bar banks from making speculative investments with their own money.

Romney has repeatedly vowed to strengthen banks by repealing Dodd-Frank, calling it a burdensome law that costs jobs.

Follow Meagan on Twitter