Wall St. Donates Twice as Much to Romney as Obama

Wall Street loves Mitt Romney almost twice as much as it loves President Barack Obama, a new analysis of campaign finance reports shows.

Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and GOP presidential candidate, has raised $7,521,705 from employees and executives of Wall Street firms.

Obama—who has become deeply unpopular among many Wall Street executives during his term in office—has raised just $3,899,122 from the same group.

The analysis was conducted by the Center for Responsive Politics in a study that will be released Monday. (www.opensecrets.org)

The third most successful presidential candidate in the Wall Street money race was Texas governor Rick Perry, who has raised $1,961,535 so far.

But what’s most revealing about the new numbers is how much each candidate depends on Wall Street cash to drive his overall fundraising effort. Romney raised 23.4 percent of his cash from the sector—showing a much greater reliance on financiers that Perry, who took just 11.4 percent of his cash from the same group.

Obama—who outpaced Romney and Perry combined in total fundraising—showed much less dependence on Wall Street financing. The president has raised a scant 4.4 percent of his total haul from Wall Street.

All told, Obama has raised more than $89 million, Romney more than $32 million and Perry just over $17 million.

Wall Street can be an extremely lucrative fundraising ground for presidential candidates. The Center for Responsive Politics shows that the sector as a whole has contributed about $16 million to presidential candidates so far this election cycle, which is about as much as the number-one sector in the Center’s rankings, general business, which has raised $16.1 million.

Herman Cain, who has led the GOP field in several recent polls, finished dead last among the presidential candidates in cash raised from Wall Street, raising $129,416 from the sector, which accounted for just 2.4 percent of his total.

The data also provides a look at which presidential candidate the executives and employees of each bank prefer.

Goldman Sachs , for example, contributed the most to Romney, with $352,200, second most to Obama, with $49,124, and third most to Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota who has dropped out of the GOP presidential contest.

Rounding out the top five presidential candidates, former Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman raised $400,723 on Wall Street, which was 8.9 percent of his take, and Texas congressman Ron Paul who raised $288,507, or 2.3 percent of his total.