According to a recent analysis of campaign contributions, not a single Fortune 100 CEO has donated to the campaign for former President Donald Trump thus far, a New York Times op-ed noted on Sunday.
Data compiled by Yale School of Management and professor in the practice of leadership Jeffery Sonnenfeld showed how despite roughly two-thirds of Fortune 100 CEOs identifying as Republican, their political affiliation does not translate into support for Trump.
"The strategy might have won voters [in 2016] but did little to enhance Mr. Trump's image with the business community," Sonnenfeld wrote. "And while a number of chief executives tried to work with Mr. Trump as they would with any incumbent president and many celebrated his move to cut the corporate tax rate, wariness persisted."
While there may have been a time when Republicans were labeled the party of the rich or big business, Sonnenfeld says Trump's populist messaging was more in line with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., than of a traditional conservative.
"The top corporate leaders working today, like many Americans, aren't entirely comfortable with either Mr. Trump or President Biden," Sonnenfeld wrote in his op-ed. "They largely like — or at least can tolerate — one of them. They truly fear the other."
Sonnenfeld said that many of the Trump policies such as 10% tariffs on imports and stripping the Federal Reserve Board of its independence "have more in common with Karl Marx than Adam Smith."
Despite the lack of support from the elite upper class, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee raised $141 million in May, far outpacing that of Biden, whose campaign pulled in $85 million the same month.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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