Conservative Voters Are More Liberal With Charity

November 04, 2008

Conservative Voters Are More Liberal With Charity

Households that describe themselves as conservative tend to give more money to charities than moderate and liberal households, according to a new survey.

In a survey of 3,300 households that donated money to charity in the past 12 months, the company Campbell Rinker, in Valencia, Calif., asked respondents about their political ideology.

Of those surveyed, those who live in conservative households donated an average of $3,255 to charities outside of places of worship during the past year. By comparison, moderate households donated $2,926 and liberal households donated $1,879.

Conservatives also give significantly more money to their place of worship than liberals and moderates.

The survey found conservatives gave, on average, $1,841 to their places of worship during the past year — compared with $1,115 for moderates and $499 for liberals.

But while conservatives give more than their peers, they are less likely to spread the word to others about their giving experiences.

Among liberal donors, 84 percent said they had recommended a charity to friends, family, or colleagues. That compares with 75 percent of moderates and 59 percent of conservatives.

(To read more about research on giving differences between liberals and conservatives, see A Political Divide, an article from The Chronicle’s archive.)

— Peter Panepento

Comments

I just read the Campbell Rinker report and it appears that they are reporting out straight response frequencies without controlling for other causal factors. In other words, the question of how differences in income, religiosity, and other factors might shape giving levels is ignored. It is possible, after all, that wealthier individuals give more, and they also happen to be more conservative. I suggest that readers ignore this study in favor of the more nuanced work coming out of the PSID and other sources. And would it be too much to ask the Chronicle to report out this research with a reminder to the reader that absolutely no causal links should be inferred? I am getting tired of the lack of discretion exercised by the Chronicle. Are all the reporters laid off, and you’re just recycling press releases now?

— Nonprofit Professor Nov 4, 02:53 PM #
First rule of thumb in reading statistics such as these: what could be the relationships at play? A rule of thumb this article clearly ignores and a text book example of poor statistical reporting. Nonprofit Professor is exactly right- what we should be asking ourselves is why? To me the answer is obvious. If you are going to present statistics like these then you must take into account volunteer hours and percentage of income given to charity. Let’s have some balance here.

— Liberal Nov 4, 04:22 PM #
Weren’t these findings, as well as the answers to the concerns of N.P. and Liberal, addressed already by Arthur Brooks?

— Bif Nov 4, 05:49 PM #
I give countless hours of volunteer time to the causes I support, some of which do not even have a corporate status, let alone a tax exemption. if this research does not measure this kind of giving, then I have no use for it at all. money is easy.

— rawillis3 Nov 4, 07:36 PM #
I agree with the above comments. Not taking into account total household income is ridiculous and misleading.

— Katie Nov 5, 10:23 AM #

Commenting is closed for this article.

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Conservative Voters Are More Liberal With Charity

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