Ulric B. and Evelyn L. Bray Social Sciences Seminar

Abstract: Are campaign donors simply affluent people who happen to give to campaigns or are there differences between donors and the affluent in their policy views? To answer this question, we conducted surveys of verified 2018 midterm donors, affluent individuals, and the general population. Comparing the preferences of co-partisans reveals both parties' donors have more ideologically extreme views on domestic policies than either the affluent or general public. In fact, on these issues the preferences of the affluent are rarely distinctive from those of their copartisans in the general public. On international issues, however, Democratic donors are more pro-internationalist than affluent and general public co-partisans while Republican donors are similar to affluent co-partisans. Analyzing variation among donor-types, we find some types have even more divergent preferences, but differences from the affluent persist regardless of whether the contributor is in- versus out-of-state, small or large, or active in presidential elections.