More Top Heavy, More Republican: The 1% of the 1% Over Time

One lesson of the 2014 election cycle was that more money came from fewer people.

And a look at the political One Percent of the One Percent of Americans – the top 31,000 or so donors, roughly equal to one percent of one percent of the U.S. population – over the last three elections bears that out: The money coming from this select demographic is increasing and it is leaning more conservative. What’s more, even within the top .01 percent, the donors at the very peak are contributing more and more of the money.

The Center for Responsive Politics and the Sunlight Foundation teamed up to take a detailed look at the topmost tier of donors of disclosed political contributions at the federal level.

This report is a joint project of the Center for Responsive Politics and the Sunlight Foundation.

 

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