<p class="ingestion featured-caption">Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP via Getty Images. NATALIE BEHRING/AFP via Getty Images.</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>The US presidential election is always important, but this year the stakes are especially high.</li><li>Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are on opposite ends of the spectrum a number of fundamental issues.</li></ul><p><a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-jd-vance-kamala-harris-tim-walz-union-support-2024-8">The US presidential election</a> is always important, but this year the stakes may be especially high.</p><p>That's because the candidates — <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-wants-elon-musk-on-his-cabinet-2024-8">Donald Trump</a> and <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-kamala-harris-donald-trump-economic-plans-2024-8">Kamala Harris</a> — are on opposite ends of the spectrum on many fundamental issues. Who wins the White House, therefore, could have far-reaching consequences on people's lives and the economy, says Richard Haass, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations.</p><p>"This is one of those rare elections where the differences probably outweigh the similarities, and that's why it's such a consequential election here at home for American democracy and also in the world for American foreign policy," Haass, a senior counselor to investment bank Centerview Partners, said in a recent conversation with Goldman Sachs titled <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/goldman-sachs-exchanges/02-13-24-haass-ash">"2024: The year of elections."</a></p><p>For Wall Street bankers, traders, and executives, the election stands also to affect their jobs and business prospects, from US trade relations to demand for megamergers. Former president Trump is expected to be good for cryptocurrency, for example, but bad for trade with China — and the list goes on.</p><p>Wall Street billionaires, therefore, are placing their bets — literally — by contributing money to the candidates of their choice.</p><p>To see where Wall Street's top leaders stand on this year's consequential election, Business Insider scoured the Federal Election Commission website for individual donations from Wall Street leaders between 2023 and July 2024. The data showed support for Trump and Harris pretty evenly split across an array of firms, from private equity giant <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-succeed-at-blackstone-schwarzman-gray-career-advice-2024-8">Blackstone</a> to investment bank Evercore. BI found zero direct donations, however, to either candidate from the heads of large, publicly traded investment banks, including <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-ceo-hiring-personality-traits-job-candidates-applications-2024-8">Goldman Sachs</a>, JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley.</p><p>BI's FEC data search may not include some donations from July and August because it uploads new data monthly. Also, donations made to Harris's campaign before July 2024 were likely donations to President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection campaign, as many of his funds have been converted to Harris. That is why many of the donations to Harris below appear to have been made before Biden withdrew his candidacy. We will update this list when new data becomes available.</p><p>See here to find which Wall Street tycoons are voting for which candidate in 2024 presidential election, in alphabetical order:</p>