President's Blog

Finance and the 2012 Election

November 16, 2012
post contributed by Emily DeLuca

The October Roundtable event was a discussion regarding the impact that the 2012 presidential election will have on the financial industry. Rob Astorino, elected in 2009 to Westchester County Executive, and Harold Ford, former US Congressional Representative were moderated by Myron Kandel, founding financial editor for CNN.

Ford stated that Romney has a first debate advantage, however, he sees Obama as capable of recovering. When bluntly asked to place a wager on the winner of the presidential election, Ford said the race was just too close. Given the same opportunity to speculate a winner, Astorino put his money on Romney.

Astorino believes Romney’s statements regarding the current state of the economy are truthful as opposed to what voters want to hear. “This country needs to hear an honest debate” Astorino said.

Both Ford and Astorino agree that the election will be determined by undecided voters which means the debates could have a major impact. Based on the poll that was taken from the Roundtable members at the event, most expect the stock market to be down five business days after the election if Obama is re-elected but expect the market to improve with a Republican victory. 

close