Bloomberg News analyzed contribution data from online political donation platforms ActBlue and WinRed to determine how employees from different industries and companies donated during the 2020 election.
The results are interesting yet not all that surprising. Big banks, big tech companies, and big universities all donated heavily to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, while blue-collar workers and the military donated more to President Donald Trump. The data contain contributions of less than $200.
“Trump generally fared better with manual laborers, with 84% of donors who reported being ranchers and 75% of construction workers giving to him. The vast majority of donors who work as college professors, deans or who were otherwise employed by colleges or universities gave to Biden,” Bloomberg reported. “Over 19,000 donors who gave to Trump using WinRed listed their occupation, which is self-reported, as ‘homemaker,’ compared to fewer than 900 Biden donors using ActBlue. (Almost five times as many donors to Trump included the word ‘wife’ in their occupation title than Biden donors). Only 4% of donors who worked in non-profits donated to Trump, while 84% of donors who were ranchers gave to Trump.”
The Bloomberg article contains two graphics: One showing “Whose Employees Have Donated to Biden vs. Trump” and another showing which occupations are donating to which candidate.
The first chart shows just three employers with employees that decidedly donated to Trump: the U.S. Military, the U.S. Marines specifically, and the New York Police Department. Employers with employees that donated heavily to Biden are big-name universities like Harvard and the University of California, along with Big Tech companies Facebook and Microsoft. Employees at Big Pharma and health insurance companies have also donated heavily to Biden, as have employees at big banks. The analysis also found that employees at UPS and FedEx donated more to Trump than to Biden, while employees at the U.S. Postal Service donated more to Biden.
The other graphic, containing information about specific industries, shows that teachers, lawyers, and professors donated heavily to Biden while business owners, police officers, and stay-at-home moms donated more to Trump.
The analysis raises questions about whether Biden can really do what he claims he will do for health care, given how much support he is receiving from Big Pharma and health insurance companies. Obamacare was a big payout to these companies despite claims to the contrary, so even though Biden says he will lower drug costs and health insurance, the donation show otherwise. Obamacare, also, raised insurance costs for millions of Americans and resulted in millions losing their health insurance and having to purchase more expensive plans on the state exchanges.
The graphics also show the divide between the American elites, who believe a college degree makes someone smarter than those without college degrees, and average Americans. For all of Democrats’ talk about being for the working class, they sure don’t seem to be supported by that segment of the population.