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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Obama's 2008 Wall Street Donors Flock To Romney: Bleeding Support Across The Board

By Susan Duclos

Attacking the very heart of Capitalism and the continuous class warfare rhetoric from Barack Obama over the last three-and-a-half years has caused many of his financial-sector donors to wave goodbye to Obama and say hello Mitt Romney!

The Politico reports:

Now, thanks to campaign finance filings, it’s possible to put a price tag on just how much: Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and the super PAC supporting it are outraising Obama among financial-sector donors $37.1 million to $4.8 million.

Near the front of the pack are 19 Obama donors from 2008 who are giving big to Romney.

The 19 have already given $4.8 million to Romney’s presidential campaign and the super PAC supporting it through the end of April, according to a POLITICO analysis of Federal Election Commission filings. Four years ago, they gave Obama $213,700.

None of them has given a penny to the president’s reelection campaign or the super PAC supporting it.

Ken Griffin, founder of the Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel, has accused Obama of engaging in “class warfare” and gave $2,500 to Romney’s campaign, plus nearly $1.1 million to the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future. But in 2008, Griffin donated the maximum $4,600 to Obama’s campaign and helped raise another $50,000 to $100,000.

“It is critical that the next president appreciates that America’s prosperity is driven by the innovation and hard work of the American worker, whose valiant efforts have, in recent years, been undermined by the oppressive weight of government intervention,” Griffin told POLITICO in a statement.

The inevitable liberal spin on this comes from Obama’s spokesman Ben LaBolt, who provides the message for Obama supporters to pitch, stating "While the president fought for Wall Street reform to ensure that we end taxpayer-funded bailouts of the financial sector and protect the middle class from risky financial deals that crash our entire economy, Mitt Romney is actively campaigning on a promise to let Wall Street write its own rules again."

That narrative doesn't quite ring true as in that same Politico report (Page 2) they find that other big Romney 2012 donors have a long history supporting Democrats and "that 49 donors who had given $100,000 or more to Restore Our Future had previously given to Democratic candidates for various federal offices. Those donors have accounted for nearly $18 million of Restore Our Future’s $56.5 million haul."

The bad news for Obama regarding donors doesn't stop with Wall Street as BuzzFeed reports that "roughly 90% of those who gave more than $200 to Obama haven't returned." Only 11 percent of them switched allegiance, the rest just removed themselves from the political process.




It is not only the loss of his 2008 donors that has the Obama campaign in a tailspin. Reuters reports that Obama's support among Independents drops from 48 percent to 35 percent, according to the recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.

 ABC News headlines "A Chilly Reception from Independents on Obama’s Plans for the Economy."

Gallup shows that Obama has lost four percent among non-hispanic blacks, six percent among non-hispanic whites and five percent across the board from his 2008 support.

Reminder, Obama beat John McCain by 7 percent nationally in the 2008 presidential election.

Business Insider reports on a Democratic leaning Public Policy Polling survey which shows Obama losing nearly 20 percent of African-American support in North Carolina where Romney now has a 48 percent to 46 percent lead on Obama.

John McCain received only 5 percent of the African-American vote in 2008, Mitt Romney has 20 percent support amongst the same demographic in 2012. Obama had 95 percent report among the same group in 2008 and is down to 76 percent support.

National Journal reports that a Colorado focus group shows Obama 2008 supporters "disillusioned" with his presidency:

Last night, veteran Democratic pollster Peter Hart conducted a focus group featuring 12 undecided, ticket-splitting voters in Colorado, which illustrated the tough challenge President Obama faces in winning a second term. He's lost significant ground among these swing voters: Ten of the participants voted for Obama in 2008; only three of them said they leaned towards re-electing him in 2012. In an initial survey taking leaners into account, Mitt Romney led Obama 5-3, with four completely undecided.

Listening to the feedback from the group, it was striking how many of them have grown disillusioned from their own expectations set by Obama's soaring rhetoric from 2008, and the less-inspiring reality that transpired.

After being shown footage of a campaign speech by Obama, the prevailing sentiment was that the president was a slick salesman, but his words didn't match his actions.

"I got duped. I fell under his spell. What he's done with the car industry is the only real success," said Patrick Allen, a 27-year-old health care consultant, who voted for Obama in 2008. "I feel like I was somewhat lied to."

Rasmussen shows that in Wisconsin, a state that hasn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1984, has Romney ahead of Obama among likely voters, 47 percent to 44 percent.

Obama is bleeding support from North Carolina all the way across the country to Colorado, rich and poor, moderate and Independents, men and women, black and white, and his answer to this is give him "four more years."

Oh, and another $447 billion stimulus package please.