The Gender Gap In Campaign Contributions Continues Into 2018

by Doug Weber

Historically, men have made the vast majority of campaign contributions to candidates, but women–whose campaign cash favors Democrats in general, and Democratic women in particular–saw a boost in 2016, when they gave in record numbers to Hillary Clinton.

Despite the infusion of cash from female donors in 2016, men still dominated the list of the top 100 overall donors, taking up all but 19 spots on the list, as of August. The top 10 male donors alone gave $155.4 million–much more than the $96.8 million given by the top 100 women combined.

Female candidates tend to benefit most from contributions from women, and thus far in 2018, the trend shows no sign of waning.

Looking at campaign contributions, an analysis of Federal Election Commission data shows that eight of the top ten politicians with the highest percentage of itemized contributions from women–that is, donations of $200 or more–are, themselves, women.

Three of the women on the list–Harris, Gillibrand and Warren–have been discussed as 2020 presidential candidates. All of the top recipients are Democrats and only two are from southern states. Even the highest recipient by percentage received over 30% of her contributions from men.

The list of top recipients by lowest percentage contributions from women is also distinctive and, unsurprisingly, entirely male.

Eight of the ten are Republicans, and six of the ten are from Southern states. The percentages are much more lopsided with the recipients typically getting 90% or more of contributions from men.