The Facts Don't Fit the Stereotypes

A blogger for the National Review On-line named Michael G. Franc has been delving into information that has been made available by the Federal Election Commission regarding who is contributing money to the political candidates this year though May 1. The results may surprise you.
The Democrats have CEOs ($5.7 million, as opposed to $2.3 million for the Republicans.

Chief financial officers, general counsels, directors, and chief information officers also break the Democrats’ way by more than two-to-one margins.

Corporate Presidents, executive vice presidents, vice presidents, and managers are also going for the Democrats. So much for all the Marxist rhetoric about the evil corporations!

Wall Street firms, long a symbol of American elite accomplishment, also tilt decisively toward the Democrats. Employees in storied Wall Street institutions such as Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley have all favored the Democratic field by a large margin. Even both sides of the recent Bear Stearns/JP Morgan Chase deal choose Democratic candidates over Republicans by two-to-one margins. Democrats also enjoy enormous fundraising advantages among well-educated professionals — lawyers, teachers, accountants, journalists and writers. They carry practitioners of the hard sciences, winning solidly among physicians ($8 million to $4 million), biologists, chemists, physicists, and plain old scientists. Republicans must settle for a slender advantage among rocket scientists.

As Betsy Newmark says, "We all know who is getting the votes and money from actors and professors."

So, what groups are giving to the Republicans?

The white-shirt/red-tie brigade of Republican presidential aspirants holds a nearly three-to-one edge among janitors, custodians, cleaners, sanitation workers, factory workers, truckers, bus drivers, barbers, security guards, and secretaries. While Democrats command the financial loyalty of architects, Republicans successfully woo contributions from the skilled craftsmen who turn their blueprints into reality — specifically, contractors, hardhats, plumbers, stonemasons, electricians, carpenters mechanics, and roofers. This trend extends to the saloons, where the Democrats carry the bartenders and the Republicans the waitresses. The GOP field even secures more financial support from teamsters, steelworkers, bricklayers, and autoworkers.

That’s the good news for the GOP. The bad news is that fewer of these politically active citizens contribute to campaigns and, when they do, they contribute far less than their elite brethren.