Nielsen sees shifts in political contributions

Eight of the 10 demographic segments most likely to contribute to a Presidential campaign which include the most affluent, influential and well-educated voters, made a majority of their contributions to Democratic candidates during the first half of 2007, according to a recent analysis by the Nielsen Company using data from its lifestyle segmentation system and FEC reports. This is up from four of the top 10 segments during the same period in 2003.

Also, of the two segments that donated a majority of their money to Republican candidates – Country Squires and Second City Elite – both are trending Democratic.

Data for this Nielsen analysis was obtained from the FEC.gov website and includes all individual donations to Presidential Primary candidates prior to June 2007. The data was coded using Nielsen’s PRIZM NE segmentation system at the ZIP code level.

The study showed that 64% of the donors in the top 10 donor segments gave to Democratic candidates compared to 36% for Republican candidates. The numbers were also similar for donations, with Democratic candidates receiving 62% of the donated dollars and Republicans receiving 38%.
Nationally, Democrats are out-raising Republicans, capturing nearly 60% of all donated dollars.  This capture rate is even more acute in urban segments where Democrats average closer to 70% across most segments. Suburbia is more varied, from a high near 70% to a low of 38%, but an overall average capture rate of 55% for Democrats.

In addition, the rural heartland and small town America has lost its strong tilt towards Republican contributions of years past with Democratic and Republican candidates now obtaining about a 50/50 split across the group’s segments.  The upper and middle-class of rural America still lean more Republican—in terms of donors and dollars given—while the lower income segments favor Democratic candidates.

Although the percentage split between the number of Republican and Democratic donors has remained relatively flat since the last election, dollar donations for 2008 has tilted towards the Democratic side. In key segments like Movers & Shakers, Urban Achievers, and Upper Crust, there are double digit increases in funding from the Republicans in 2004 to the Democrats in 2008.
| See the charts here |

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