What Does A Campaign Contributor Look Like?
Studies* of campaign contributors to Congress found that:- More than nine of ten are white.
- Four-fifths are male.
- More than four-fifths are 45 years old or older.
- More than four-fifths have college degrees, and
- Two-fifths hold a post-graduate degree (most frequently a law degree or MBA).
Annual Family Income of Congressional Donors($200 or more)
| Family Income | Percentage of Donors |
| $500,000 or more | 20% |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 26% |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 35% |
| $ 50,000 to $ 99,999 | 14% |
| $ 49,999 or less | 5% |
Four-fifths of donors reported an annual family income
of more than $100,000 a year, and only one in twenty had incomes of less
than $50,000. By way of comparison, the 1996 National Election Study found
that less than one-tenth of the public reported incomes of $100,000 or
more, and almost two-thirds had incomes less than $50,000 per year.
Clearly, campaign contributors aren't representative of a broad spectrum
of voters but, in fact, come from a very thin slice of the population
that has the luxury to be able to afford to contribute to political campaigns.
*Information about this
1998 study provided by the Center for Responsive Politics.
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