By JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has a message for some of the world’s wealthiest corporate leaders: help Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign.
“Even if you’re a very liberal Democrat, I urge you, help Nikki Haley, too. Get a choice on the Republican side that might be better than [Donald] Trump,” Dimon said Wednesday at a conference hosted by The New York Times’ DealBook franchise.
Present in the audience for Dimon’s remarks was a who’s who of Wall Street titans, including hedge fund veteran Bill Ackman. Billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, media titan David Zaslav and Disney CEO Bob Iger were all scheduled to speak later in the day.
Dimon was clearly addressing his remarks to the people in the room, and not to all liberal Democrats.
The comments come as Haley is riding a wave of new support from key big money political backers. On Tuesday, the political network financed largely by billionaire Charles Koch formally endorsed the former governor of South Carolina.
Haley earlier this month told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that she and Dimon spoke by phone recently about the state of the economy. Dimon has a net worth of $1.8 billion, according to Forbes.
At the DealBook conference, Dimon stopped short of saying the Republican presidential nominee should be anyone but Trump.
“I would never say that, you know, because he might be the president and I have to deal with him, too,” said Dimon.
Haley’s current momentum extends beyond Wall Street. A recent CNN poll showed 42% of likely GOP primary voters in the key primary state of New Hampshire supported Trump, with Haley in second place, getting 20%. For Haley, that’s an 8-point increase since the last CNN/University of New Hampshire poll in September.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was in fourth place in that poll at 9%, behind former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s 14%.
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