Biden Beats Trump in Higher Ed Contributions

Inside Higher Ed

Kery Murakami

September 11, 2020

According to an Inside Higher Ed analysis of federal elections data, employees at colleges and universities have donated five times as much to Joe Biden as to Donald Trump.

Though the nation finds itself deeply divided, it’s clear whom employees at the nation’s higher education institutions are supporting financially in the presidential race.

According to federal elections records, those who listed their employer as a college or university have given Democratic candidate Joe Biden about $4.9 million in contributions, more than five times as much as the $890,000, including donations from for-profit college executives, that they have given President Trump.

The contributions to Biden have come widely, from about 8,800 donors, compared to the 2,800 higher education employees who want to see another four years of a Trump administration.

Even more pronounced are whom those college or university employees, who listed their occupation either as professor, instructor or teacher, are giving to. The educators have given about $2.7 million to Biden, according to Federal Election Commission records in the election cycle beginning in January 2019 — or seven times as much as the $353,00 they have to Trump.

That those in higher education are overwhelmingly supporting Biden isn’t surprising, given that Trump’s views on climate change spurred a March for Science in 2017, his downplaying of the threat of coronavirus has angered many in the medical community and his brand of populism has been particular popular among those without a college education. Or, in the eyes of conservatives, the support for Biden reflects the dominance of liberal viewpoints on campus.

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