Trump winning over millionaire investors, who are betting on windfall

Millionaire investors were evenly split this election, but with the markets on a tear since the ballots were counted, nearly two-thirds now say President-elect Donald Trump will be good for their investments.

The results of CNBC’s latest Millionaire Survey found that 43 percent of investors with more than $1 million in investible assets voted for Hillary Clinton, while 42 percent voted for Trump. That marked a huge swing from CNBC’s spring survey, when Trump had only 31 percent of the vote. That means Trump captured nearly all the undecided millionaire voters.

The Millionaire Survey, conducted with Spectrem Group, polls millionaires by wealth and not by income. Still, the results tracked with those from exit polls, which showed that Trump and Clinton essentially split the votes for those making $250,000 or more.

CNBC’s online survey polled 750 investors with $1 million or more in investible assets shortly after the election.

Following the Trump win, nearly half of millionaires said the economy will be stronger in 2017. That’s way up from the spring, when only 30 percent said the economy would be stronger.

Sixty-two percent said Trump will be good for their investments, and most predict the S&P will be up by 5 to 10 percent next year. Nearly half said they expect their personal assets will increase next year.

One big reason for the group’s investment and personal optimism is lower taxes. Of those worth $5 million or more, 43 percent expect a tax cut. And many plan to put that extra money into the market — 40 percent say they will invest their cuts in stocks, and one-third said they will put it into savings.

More than half of the millionaires surveyed said they expect the deficit to increase next year. Yet they said the most important issue for Trump to address is health care, followed by foreign policy. Taxes and government spending ranked third, according to the findings.

Millionaire forecasts for the economy and investing are still driven largely by their politics. Democrats were far more likely to say the economy will be weaker next year. And while 92 percent of Republican millionaires said Trump will be good for investing, only 18 percent of Democrats agreed.

Source: CNBC