4 ms·

And that's why the billionaires are democrats and the millionaires are republicans.

dmoy 6y ago
only about 1/3 of US billionaires are democrats (That said, I could definitely believe that NYC billionaires would have a very different distribution)
- coliveira 6y ago
  > NYC billionaires would have a very different distribution Of course, because democrats have higher presence in NY. It would be reversed otherwise. Remember that even D.T. was a democrat a few years ago.
- fighterpilot 6y ago
  What's the source for that number?
  - dmoy 6y ago
    Any number of surveys going back the last ~10 years. Forbes, PolitiFact, Open Secrets, etc. Here's a more recent forbes one: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2020/10/20/even-americas-billionaires-are-tilting-toward-biden-in-the-2020-presidential-race/?sh=7f951e382bb7 https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2020/10/20/even-am...
cheriot 6y ago
Except Charles Koch, David Koch, Sheldon Anderson, Peter Thiel... and all the rest? Both parties had prominent billionaires in the last presidential election so I think it's safe to say this is pervasive.
- adolph 6y ago
  Born Sheldon Gary Adelson August 4, 1933 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. Died January 11, 2021 (aged 87) Malibu, California, U.S. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Adelson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Adelson
  - bobthepanda 6y ago
    Well, he was still alive during the 2020 election, so the parent comment still stands.
seriousquestion 6y ago
Both have their billionaires, but dems do have the majority of rich households in broad terms. "Democrats now represent 65% of taxpayers with a household income of $500,000 or more, according to pre-pandemic Internal Revenue Service statistics." https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-19/democrats-tax-hike-bet-relies-on-their-new-500-000-plus-voters https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-19/democrats...
- colinmhayes 6y ago
  Educated people vote for democrats. They also have money. Not super surprising.
  - hartator 6y ago
    > Educated people vote for democrats. That's little divisive for no real reason. Smart people disagrees on politics but don't insult each other. I am sure we can find plenty of stats that reflect badly on Democrats eloctorat.
    - chasing 6y ago
      https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-would-vote-for-trump/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-pr...
    - HunterWare 6y ago
      https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2015/04/07/a-deep-dive-into-party-affiliation/ https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2015/04/07/a-deep-dive-... Democrats lead by 22 points (57%-35%) in leaned party identification among adults with post-graduate degrees. The Democrats’ edge is narrower among those with college degrees or some post-graduate experience (49%-42%), and those with less education (47%-39%). Across all educational categories, women are more likely than men to affiliate with the Democratic Party or lean Democratic. The Democrats’ advantage is 35 points (64%-29%) among women with post-graduate degrees, but only eight points (50%-42%) among post-grad men.
chollida1 6y ago
Well the numbers would disagree with your assertion. https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiasavchuk/2014/07/09/are-americas-richest-families-republicans-or-democrats/?sh=22741a023e83 https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiasavchuk/2014/07/09/are-ame...
- swagasaurus-rex 6y ago
  Anecdotally accumulation of wealth could be correlated with a shift towards fiscally conservative/small government libertarian ideals.
- remolacha 6y ago
  No inclusion of Bezos, Gates, or Zuckerberg in this list. It’s not clear that there was even a rules-based method for selecting their “50 richest families”… The data seem cherry-picked.
jedberg 6y ago
Billionaires tend to be much more pragmatic about their politics than dogmatic. They support politicians on both sides of the aisle, because they know the value of having a politician owe you a favor. They don't really care if that person is R or D because at the end of the day as long as that representative votes for the policies they like, they don't really care about the rest.
- scrubs 6y ago
  Agree - the idea that R v. D alone has serious explanatory power is silly. It's naive to think that money does not have the greater effect on politics than the converse. This is a power issue not an issue that arises out of political planks of ideology.
- gremlinsinc 5y ago
  To Billionaires, politicians aren't people who "might" do something you like to better your life...they're a concierge service, and the more you have on your staff, the more you get done.
turbinerneiter 6y ago
I guess a millionaire has to pick one party to buy, while the billionaires can just pay off both.

dmoy 6y ago

only about 1/3 of US billionaires are democrats (That said, I could definitely believe that NYC billionaires would have a very different distribution)

coliveira 6y ago
> NYC billionaires would have a very different distribution Of course, because democrats have higher presence in NY. It would be reversed otherwise. Remember that even D.T. was a democrat a few years ago.
fighterpilot 6y ago
What's the source for that number?
- dmoy 6y ago
  Any number of surveys going back the last ~10 years. Forbes, PolitiFact, Open Secrets, etc. Here's a more recent forbes one: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2020/10/20/even-americas-billionaires-are-tilting-toward-biden-in-the-2020-presidential-race/?sh=7f951e382bb7 https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2020/10/20/even-am...

cheriot 6y ago

Except Charles Koch, David Koch, Sheldon Anderson, Peter Thiel... and all the rest? Both parties had prominent billionaires in the last presidential election so I think it's safe to say this is pervasive.

adolph 6y ago
Born Sheldon Gary Adelson August 4, 1933 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. Died January 11, 2021 (aged 87) Malibu, California, U.S. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Adelson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Adelson
- bobthepanda 6y ago
  Well, he was still alive during the 2020 election, so the parent comment still stands.

seriousquestion 6y ago

Both have their billionaires, but dems do have the majority of rich households in broad terms. "Democrats now represent 65% of taxpayers with a household income of $500,000 or more, according to pre-pandemic Internal Revenue Service statistics." https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-19/democrats-tax-hike-bet-relies-on-their-new-500-000-plus-voters https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-19/democrats...

colinmhayes 6y ago
Educated people vote for democrats. They also have money. Not super surprising.
- hartator 6y ago
  > Educated people vote for democrats. That's little divisive for no real reason. Smart people disagrees on politics but don't insult each other. I am sure we can find plenty of stats that reflect badly on Democrats eloctorat.
  - chasing 6y ago
    https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-would-vote-for-trump/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-pr...
  - HunterWare 6y ago
    https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2015/04/07/a-deep-dive-into-party-affiliation/ https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2015/04/07/a-deep-dive-... Democrats lead by 22 points (57%-35%) in leaned party identification among adults with post-graduate degrees. The Democrats’ edge is narrower among those with college degrees or some post-graduate experience (49%-42%), and those with less education (47%-39%). Across all educational categories, women are more likely than men to affiliate with the Democratic Party or lean Democratic. The Democrats’ advantage is 35 points (64%-29%) among women with post-graduate degrees, but only eight points (50%-42%) among post-grad men.

chollida1 6y ago

Well the numbers would disagree with your assertion. https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiasavchuk/2014/07/09/are-americas-richest-families-republicans-or-democrats/?sh=22741a023e83 https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiasavchuk/2014/07/09/are-ame...

swagasaurus-rex 6y ago
Anecdotally accumulation of wealth could be correlated with a shift towards fiscally conservative/small government libertarian ideals.
remolacha 6y ago
No inclusion of Bezos, Gates, or Zuckerberg in this list. It’s not clear that there was even a rules-based method for selecting their “50 richest families”… The data seem cherry-picked.

jedberg 6y ago

Billionaires tend to be much more pragmatic about their politics than dogmatic. They support politicians on both sides of the aisle, because they know the value of having a politician owe you a favor. They don't really care if that person is R or D because at the end of the day as long as that representative votes for the policies they like, they don't really care about the rest.

scrubs 6y ago
Agree - the idea that R v. D alone has serious explanatory power is silly. It's naive to think that money does not have the greater effect on politics than the converse. This is a power issue not an issue that arises out of political planks of ideology.
gremlinsinc 5y ago
To Billionaires, politicians aren't people who "might" do something you like to better your life...they're a concierge service, and the more you have on your staff, the more you get done.

turbinerneiter 6y ago

I guess a millionaire has to pick one party to buy, while the billionaires can just pay off both.