NEW ORLEANS — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump crushed Democratic contender Hillary Clinton in an informal poll of attendees at this year's Independent Community Bankers of America conference.
Trump received 83% support as part of a nonscientific poll involving bankers who attended the conference's final general session. Clinton received 17% of the vote. An ICBA spokeswoman could not estimate how many of the conference's 1,500 attendees participated in the mock election.
The results contrast with a recent poll conducted by the Consumer Bankers Association, where Clinton narrowly beat out Trump in a similar poll taken at the Consumer Bankers Association's conference. Clinton received 52% of the vote in that poll, compared with 48% for Trump.
-
Hillary Clinton edged out Donald Trump in a mock election poll Tuesday at the Consumer Bankers Association conference, winning 52% to 48%.
March 8 -
In almost any other election cycle, bankers would be celebrating the fact that a Republican candidate has emerged so far in front of the pack and would quickly fall in line behind him. But this has been anything but a normal election cycle, and there are a whole host of reasons that bankers will be at least as reluctant to embrace the outspoken businessman Donald Trump as the Republican establishment has been.
March 1 -
While this presidential race seems to change by the minute, some bankers are beginning to worry that an increasingly likely Donald Trump nomination could threaten GOP control of the Senate and key industry priorities.
March 9
Bankers at the ICBA's conference said they were unsurprised by Trump's decisive victory, since the banking industry traditionally leans to the right. Bankers also seemed to share some of the anger and frustration that Trump has tapped into in recent months.
"It goes back to honesty and truth," said Donald Threadgold, a senior vice president at CorTrust Bank in Mitchell, S.D. "We've lost all faith in the established political leaders."
Some bankers, however, were unsure how much Trump would understand their industry or whether he would actually look out for their interests.
Dennis Nelson, director of credit risk at First International Bank & Trust in Watford City, N.D., said he was reserving judgment of Trump. Nelson wondered if Trump would support small businesses given his background working in New York as part of a large corporation.
"He's a businessman, but I'm still debating whether he's the right fit," Nelson said.
Trump "couldn't be any worse than what we have now," Threadgold said.
