Closet conservative

As far as expressing your views go, if it's in a coworker-at-drinks context and you're ready to defend your positions/arguments in a well thought out and cogent manner, I can't see any problem at all. In any case being well-articulated and gaining good practice expressing your views (especially to those who you presume are on the other side) can only help you in the long run (including in your career). This is assuming most well-educated folks you run around with are reasonably open-minded, which may be a bold assumption depending on whom you are asking... In any case I would continue to be passionate about what you believe in outside of work and learn to communicate those views appropriately to all kinds of people (and actively try and make friends with those who think differently but who you respect intellectually), and in the appropriate settings. No need to be unnecessarily outspoken.

In the office, you should have little opportunity and no need to express your views.

I'm going to take a very different approach here. I think that having a political view is a good thing, but it needs to be a dispassionate political view. I don't care what your personal views are, but I care that you understand the impact of what's happening in the political sphere. Think about the companies that you're dealing with, whether in M&A, S&T, RE, or Consulting. In order to do your job well and best serve the client's needs, you do need to understand what's happening politically. Being able to dispassionately discuss both sides of the argument for a given political issue that affects your industry is key. You can be a staunch liberal or conservative, but if you can't articulate what, for example, the impact of a Medicare For All type system would be to your clients and how the political decisions involved would directly impact any potentail deal making, debt issuance, or CapEx from both sides and do it without showing favor to one side or the other, and that's the key - presenting facts in order to allow your client to make their own decision, you can have these conversations. An anti-trust case against a tech company, for example, may be a great thing if you believe that Big Data can lead to violation of privacy rights, but when it comes to advising a tech company, being able to ariculate both sides of the issue and explain why it can lead to new opportunities is an asset.

That said, if it's in personal discussion with others, avoid it unless you know the people you are talking to and can have a civil discussion about it.

Prospect in RE - Comm:

What is the political culture in finance?

How's that limiting spending in healthcare working out for you right now?

The middle market (especially the client universe) is thoroughly Trump country.

So, I'd say the majority of people are center-right conservatives, who see the risks given by a certain you-know-who outpacing any benefits, and desiring any other outside of a hard left candidate. My preference was Buttigieg, Bloomberg, and Booker in that order, but I'll take Biden. Hard social engineering doesn't work for finance. I've got it from the head economist of a top bank that anybody centrist-even with a leftward tilt would be better than the crazy we have now.

To quote Thomas Powell: The first rule of Economics is scarcity. The first rule of politics is to forget the first rule of Economics. Loudest voice may not be the majority. In a small sample, I know both Democrats and Republicans donors. But how can one know if “most” of Wall Stree donate or lean towards Left or right without data?

I worked at a FAANG tech company that was super liberal. The day after the 2016 election, half the company called in "sick." People in the office were openly crying. There was an "emergency" meeting by executives to discuss the "crisis." As a conservative who voted for Trump, I found the whole scene bizarre, amusing, pathetic, and tragic. Yes, it was hilarious to see whiny liberals freak out over the outcome of an election held every 4 years. But on a deeper level, it was disturbing because to these people, politics was their religion, a holy moral endeavor. They genuinely believe that those who disagree with them are not just wrong on policy but morally inferior, bad people. I thus kept my mouth shut on politics. Even when colleagues made fun of Trump and conservatives at work meetings (one woman "joked" about wanting to see Trump assassinated), I did not say anything and either laughed or politely nodded. It was an acting job but necessary.