IEEE Spectrum September, 2012 - 15

Contributions to U.S. Election Campaigns
The electronics and communications
industry is on track to match
its 2008 spending

With stakes low, so are
campaign contributions

150

120

US $, MILLIONS

Tech Industry
Money in
U.S. Elections

W

spectrum.ieee.org

Source: Center for
Responsive Politics.
The partial 2012
amounts are based
on figures reported
9 July by the Federal
Elections Commission

90

60

30

0
2000

2004

2008

2012
(as of 9 July)

2000

2004

2008

2012
(as of 9 July)

Microsoft and Google look likely to be top campaign donors again
45

Total contributions, 2008:

$45 MILLION
40

35

30
Total contributions, 2012 (as of 9 July):
US $, MILLIONS

hen it comes to funding
political campaigns, the
technology industry
maintains a pretty low profile. In fact,
figures from the Center for Responsive
Politics (CRP) show the industry is
spending about the same amount as
in previous presidential election years
[see chart, "Contributions to U.S.
Election Campaigns"]. That's despite
overall campaign spending that's set to
beat 2008's record by US $400 million.
As of the end of July, numbers tallied
by the CRP showed that contributors
from the electronics and communications
category (which includes computer
and Internet companies) had spent
$94 million. Following historical
giving patterns, that put the category
on pace to match total 2008 spending
of $149 million. "Contributions tend
to peak close to the election-that's
when you typically see the most money
flowing into the system," says Douglas
H. Weber, a senior researcher at the CRP.
Ever since the watershed year of
2000, the end of a decade in which
the Microsoft antitrust trial showed
the tech industry that it needed to
pay attention to Washington, Silicon
Valley has been experimenting with
ways of flexing its political muscle.
Yet it still doesn't give nearly as much
money as other industries, such as
finance and banking, and legal.
Betsy Mullins, senior vice president
for policy and political affairs at the tech
industry advocacy group TechNet, says
the industry is still in its adolescence

The computer and Internet sector
contributes less than half of the
tech industry's $94 million

$28 MILLION

25

20
15

10
Microsoft
5

Microsoft

Google
Cisco

HP

IBM

Google

HP

Intel Oracle

0
TOP FIVE CONTRIBUTORS, 2008

when it comes to political giving. "Over
time, this unregulated industry gradually
bumped into more issues and realized
it needed stronger relationships in D.C.,"
she says. Even though tech companies

TOP FIVE CONTRIBUTORS, 2012
(as of 9 July)

have risen in the Fortune 500 (Google
is currently ranked 73), their political
giving pales in comparison to some of
their peers on that list, she says. "Banks
and telecommunications companies
september 2012 * Ieee spectrum * NA

15



http://spectrum.ieee.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum September, 2012

IEEE Spectrum September, 2012 - Cover1
IEEE Spectrum September, 2012 - Cover2
IEEE Spectrum September, 2012 - 1
IEEE Spectrum September, 2012 - 2
IEEE Spectrum September, 2012 - 3
IEEE Spectrum September, 2012 - 4
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IEEE Spectrum September, 2012 - 72
IEEE Spectrum September, 2012 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum September, 2012 - Cover4
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