While Republican conservatives have been complaining for years that Hollywood favors liberal Democrats, the latest filings from the Federal Election Commission proves their point.
According to figures released Sept. 28, 2010 and complied by the Center for Responsive Politics, of the $440 million in funds raised by the Republican Party in 2010, only $1.4 million came from the movie and TV industries, while their contributions made up nearly $6 million of the $663 million raised by the Democratic Party.
Barbara Streisand is the most generous celebrity donor, giving $56,000 to Democrats, according to CNN. Meanwhile, Rob Reiner, Michael Douglas, Jimmy Buffett, Ron Howard and Jane Fonda also back Democratic candidates generously.
To underscore this point, FTC filings show that California residents were the biggest financial supporters of the Democratic Party, contributing more than $30 million to the Party, but only giving Republicans a paltry $6 million.
Lawyers Also Favor Democratic Party
The filings also reveal some interesting information about how other professions and industries divide their donations among the two parties.
Lawyers greatly favor the Democrats, donating nearly $20 million into their campaign coffers, while only donating $4 million as a group to the GOP. Yet, both parties draw equally from retired individuals. The Democrats only edge out the Republicans by $1 million, by collecting $20 million compared to the GOP's $19 in donations from seniors.
Contrary to some liberal myths, the securities and investment industry favored Democrats over Republicans by donating $13 million to their coffers, while only giving the GOP $9.7 million.
Giving from health professionals was also evenly divided among both parties, with Democrats receiving $5.2 million and the Republicans receiving $5.1million.
Aside from a few cases, it appears that most industry donors split their contributions equally between both parties, which is exactly the same state of mindset shared by many people who say that will vote in November.
Voters Like Donors are Evenly Divided
According to new Harris Poll, if the election for the House of Representatives were held today, two in five registered voters, or 40 percent would vote for the Democratic candidate and 36 percent would vote for the Republican candidate with one in five, or 19 percent are not at all sure.
Throughout the country there are closely contested races and large expenditures being made by both parties confirm that everything -- regardless of what some pundits say -- is still very much up for grabs.
This explains why the Democrats plowed $3.2 million into New Jersey, even though its candidate lost the race for governor. It also explains why Republicans poured $4.6 million into Virgina where their candidate for governor prevailed.
Cash on Hand
While both parties have been spending huge sums of money in this political battle royal, the Democrats are showing more cash on hand with $94 million still in their coffers, compared to the Republicans' $74 million.
It can be expected that both parties will pull out all of the stops to raise as much as they can to win in November.
Chet Dembeck - CED
