Politics And Money: Which Industries Donate The Most To Political Candidates?

Creditsafe Releases Intriguing Data On The Money Behind the Half-Billion Raised To Date

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Aug 22, 2016, 10:00 ET

ALLENTOWN, Pa., Aug. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Creditsafe USA Inc., the world's most used provider of company credit reports, today released insightful data on which industries are the leading financial contributors to the 2016 US political campaigns. To date, total campaign contributions to the 2016 election total nearly half-billion dollars with $446,566,515 being donated. In 2016, $224,707,639 has been contributed to the Republican and Conservative parties while $205,176,096 has been given to the Democratic and Liberal parties.

"Of the nearly half-billion dollars contributed so far to the US political candidates, there are a few sectors that have truly made their mark with their contribution levels. Specifically, the areas of finance and insurance, information and technology, retail and wholesale trade have the led the pack with donations," said Matthew Debbage, president of Creditsafe's American and Asia-Pacific Operations. "By digging a little deeper looking at contributions by four digit industry code (NAICS), the results are even more interesting with business and professional services (NAICS: 8139) giving nearly $107 million, other financial services groups (NAICS: 5239) contributing $85 million and the securities, commodity and brokerage industries (NAICS: 5231) giving $45 million."

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy.

"Organizations in NAICS 8139 are mainly made up of trade unions, 75% are solidly Democrat/Liberal, while 60% of the financial services companies are solidly Republican/Conservative. This is no surprise when Democrat/Liberal beliefs focus on equal opportunity and equality whereas Republican/Conservative center on personal responsibility and free markets," said Debbage.

In the United States, data on political contributions is collected and compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) is a non-profit, non-partisan research group based in Washington, D.C. The organization tracks the influence of money and lobbying on elections and public policy. A public database of the organization's information and findings is available at www.opensecrets.org.

As part of its analysis, Creditsafe USA matched the named contributing companies to the corresponding profiles in its proprietary global business information database. This work enabled a more finite analysis of contributions by sector and industry NAICS.

About The Creditsafe Group
Creditsafe Group is the world's most used provider of company credit reports with ten Creditsafe Group reports downloaded every second. Privately owned and independently minded, Creditsafe is looking to change the way business information is used by providing high-quality data in an easy to use format that everyone in an organization can benefit from.

Founded in Norway in 1997, Creditsafe has offices in countries all over the world including: the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States. Globally, Creditsafe employs over 1,200 people and has more than 90,000 subscription customers. Three years ago, the Creditsafe Group opened offices in the U.S. under the name Creditsafe, Inc. Its U.S. operations are headquartered in Allentown, Pa. with another facility in Phoenix, AZ. For more information, please visit www.creditsafe.com.