It's no secret that Donald Trump was not the preferred candidate for many business groups that have traditionally aligned with Republicans, but while no groups have gone so far as to denounce his candidacy, a handful of association leaders have expressed wariness in recent interviews about the billionaire being the likely GOP nominee.

Among them is National Cable & Telecommunications Association CEO Michael Powell who, in an interview with the tech news site C|NET, was asked about Trump and what his candidacy means for Republicans. Powell himself is a Republican and his father, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell, had sometimes been floated as a possible presidential contender.

Powell said he believes leadership means "trying to connect the better nature of people and not profit from the worst nature in people." He made clear he doesn't see Trump exhibiting that quality.

"The political system is letting us all down," Powell told C|NET. "Somebody once told me that the way most people vote for president is they want the person who exhibits the qualities that they wish they fully were. You should want them to be better."

Powell also said he can't picture his father running for president anytime soon: It's "a system that at the moment isn't encouraging people like him to run." http://cnet.co/20BCeb4

The problem for groups lacking enthusiasm about Trump is that his likely Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton is far from an optimal alternative. In a recent article, news outlet Bloomberg noted that many financial intuition leaders believe her prolonged primary fight with Bernie Sanders has dragged Clinton too far to the left, as evidenced by her increasing attacks on Wall Street.

Concerned about both Trump and Clinton on matters of financial reform, Financial Services Roundtable recently launched a public relations push to educate candidates and their supporters about the issues facing the industry.

"This is the moment where we all need to make the pivot from the primary to the general election," FSR Executive Director Eric Hoplin told Bloomberg. "A lot of people were surprised by the Trump phenomenon. Now we're all starting to get used to it."

Not everyone is complaining about the attacks on Wall Street. The National Association of Federal Credit Unions noted that credit unions played no role in the economic collapse that hit the country in 2008 and still resonates. NAFCU CEO Dan Berger told Bloomberg his group likes the points the candidates are making about Main Street versus Wall Street.

"We love that messaging all day long," Berger said. "Now, if they could just start giving a little more specifics—like with data security—we'd love that even more." http://bloom.bg/1VigP7j

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