Why Harvard MBAs Favor Obama Over One Of Their Own

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121031184343-17970806-why-harvard-mbas-favor-obama-over-one-of-their-own

John A. Byrne
October 31, 2012

Mitt Romney graduated from Harvard Business School in 1975 as a Baker Scholar, a distinction awarded to only the top students in every business class. By all accounts, he was the quintessential student, organizing an all-star study group of MBAs to prepare for Harvard’s case study classes.

Former classmates have described him as precise, convincing and charismatic. Not surprisingly, Romney has had a distinguished career in business with one of the most loyal recruiters of Harvard talent over the years.

But if you ask today's Harvard Business School students who they would vote for next week, Romney would lose in a landslide. Two surveys by The Harbus, the MBA student newspaper at Harvard, showed yesterday (Oct. 30), that Obama had the support of 65% of the students versus 32% for HBA alumnus Romney.

The lopsided result may seem surprising, especially because Romney used his MBA (he also graduated with a Harvard law degree as a dual-degree student) to carve out a highly successful career at Bain Capital, one of the most prestigious MBA employers on the planet. It's a path that many current Harvard MBAs would love to follow. The Harbus said the two latest surveys were completed by 668 students, more than a third of the MBA candidates on campus.

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Peterson, a second-year student himself who had been a legislative aide to conservative Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), believes that “Barack Obama is just a damn likable fellow, particularly to younger voters like HBS students. He seems to get it. He seems to speak the same language. There’s a cultural and generational affinity.”

Then, there is the Republican brand, as Peterson put it. “The Republican brand is badly damaged among many voters whose preferences resemble our HBS sample: independent-minded, younger, upper-middle-class swing voters. To many of these voters, the GOP really puts the Old in Grand Old Party. It’s likely that this Party doesn’t like to party. And boy, the Republican Party is super white. There’s a cultural and generational gap.”

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