While some Wall Street billionaires They publicly support Donald Trump's bid to return to the White House, but most senior executives at publicly traded companies have a different story, according to Pangea Policy founder Terry Haines.
He said the former president's conviction on 34 felony counts by a New York jury would lead to a “noticeable but small shift away from Trump” among overall voters. Bloomberg TV on Friday After telling clients this would also make it more difficult to attract serious financial and political support on Wall Street.
This is despite billionaires such as Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and Miriam Adelson supporting Trump, while Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman has criticized the slush fund prosecution and He is said to be leaning toward endorsing Trump also.
But Haines distinguished between these billionaires and the heads of most other large public companies.
“If you're looking at an average Fortune 500 CEO or someone in upper management who has to answer to shareholders, they're going to be very careful about how they put themselves out there or whether they put themselves out there at all.” He said. “I mean, they don't want to risk public backlash for supporting Trump, I think.”
Meanwhile, the conviction sparked a surge in fundraising, with the GOP's WinRed platform briefly collapsing on Thursday under the weight of grassroots donors. On Friday evening, the Trump campaign said it had raised nearly $53 million in the 24 hours following the ruling, setting a new record for the Republican Party and closing its fundraising gap with President Joe Biden.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, just days before the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 14.
Regardless of his punishment for Trump, Haines expects the convention to be pitched “very loudly,” which could help energize the Republican base.
“But I think this alienates a lot of independents that Trump needs to win the general election,” he added. “I think this might be a problem for him.”
