If it’s true that in politics money talks, and it is, then there’s a reason why women remain more voiceless than their male counterparts. They don’t pony up. A new report released by the Center for Responsive Politics found that although women have made big advances in getting elected to office, they still don’t contribute as much money to the political system as do men.
In the 2012 election cycle, women contributed just under 30 percent of all of the money. Only 19 percent of the money that went to outside groups, or super PACs, came from women. When they removed Miriam Adelson, who was the top donor to such PACs, that number dropped to 11 percent.
More findings:
- As candidates, female Democrats rely most heavily (and male Republicans, the least) on the support of female contributors. That’s been the case since 1990.
- Of the top 100 contributors in 2012, 11 were women; that’s down from the 21 who fell into that elite group of donors in 1990.
- As politics has become more polarized, so too have the patterns of donations from women. They donate more consistently to congressional Democrats. But women who have outside employment (as compared to homemakers) have moved to the left, while those who self-identify as homemakers have moved to the right.
- The increase in female House candidates and winners since 1990 is largely attributable to Democratic women. The number of Republican women House candidates and winners has stayed static — it has even declined since a 2008 high.
Read the full report here.
Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
