Aug. 15, 2012 -- MapLight, a nonpartisan research organization that tracks money's influence on politics, has conducted an analysis of census data combined with the geographic origin of over $306 million in contributions to super PACs from Jan. 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012. The analysis found that a disproportionate amount of contributions comes from a few states:
- Four states (Texas, Nevada, California, and New York) and Washington D.C. account for two-thirds of every dollar contributed to super PACs from Jan. 1, 2011- June 30, 2012. These states and D.C. only represent one-quarter of the U.S. population.
POPULATION PERCENTAGE OF TOP 25 CONTRIBUTING STATES TO SUPER PACS (INCLUDING D.C.):
| State | Population | Contributions | Population Percentage | Contribution Percentage | Rank by Contributions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Total | 308,745,538* | 306,592,558 | 100% | 100% | |
| Texas | 25,145,561 | 60,402,587 | 8.14% | 19.70% | 1 |
| Nevada | 2,700,551 | 43,824,269 | 0.87% | 14.29% | 2 |
| California | 37,253,956 | 38,310,387 | 12.07% | 12.50% | 3 |
| District of Columbia | 601,723 | 34,878,458 | 0.19% | 11.38% | 4 |
| New York | 19,378,102 | 26,619,753 | 6.28% | 8.68% | 5 |
| Florida | 18,801,310 | 16,977,289 | 6.09% | 5.54% | 6 |
| Illinois | 12,830,632 | 11,527,397 | 4.16% | 3.76% | 7 |
| Massachusetts | 6,547,629 | 8,206,309 | 2.12% | 2.68% | 8 |
| Utah | 2,763,885 | 6,060,354 | 0.90% | 1.98% | 9 |
| Oklahoma | 3,751,351 | 5,087,392 | 1.22% | 1.66% | 10 |
| Wyoming | 563,626 | 4,418,950 | 0.18% | 1.44% | 11 |
| Virginia | 8,001,024 | 4,417,932 | 2.59% | 1.44% | 12 |
| Pennsylvania | 12,702,379 | 4,258,723 | 4.11% | 1.39% | 13 |
| Connecticut | 3,574,097 | 3,957,834 | 1.16% | 1.29% | 14 |
| Ohio | 11,536,504 | 3,808,959 | 3.74% | 1.24% | 15 |
| Maryland | 5,773,552 | 3,759,570 | 1.87% | 1.23% | 16 |
| Louisiana | 4,533,372 | 2,645,613 | 1.47% | 0.86% | 17 |
| Georgia | 9,687,653 | 2,636,483 | 3.14% | 0.86% | 18 |
| Missouri | 5,988,927 | 2,543,305 | 1.94% | 0.83% | 19 |
| New Jersey | 8,791,894 | 2,531,819 | 2.85% | 0.83% | 20 |
| Arkansas | 2,915,918 | 2,237,675 | 0.94% | 0.73% | 21 |
| Indiana | 6,483,802 | 2,151,554 | 2.10% | 0.70% | 22 |
| Arizona | 6,392,017 | 1,802,834 | 2.07% | 0.59% | 23 |
| Michigan | 9,883,640 | 1,712,311 | 3.20% | 0.56% | 24 |
| Washington | 6,724,540 | 1,663,025 | 2.18% | 0.54% | 25 |
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Contribution data source: Federal Election Commission, Jan. 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012. Population data source: U.S. Census annual estimates of the resident population for the United States, April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2011 - (XLS | CSV). Candidate positions data source: New York Times.
A link to a spreadsheet of the FEC data can be found here, http://maplt.org/NuCCUs
A link to the above data table can be found here.
Background: Following the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Citizens United, and a subsequent ruling in a lower court, Speech Now v FEC, any entity (be it an individual, union, or company) can make unlimited contributions to super PACs to specifically advocate for or against federal candidates as long as they do not explicitly coordinate with those candidates' campaigns.
DATA VISUALIZATIONS:
MapLight's interactive Tableau data visualizations show a timeline of contributions — Leaders of the (Super) PAC — and the geographic origin of contributions down to individual cities — Five Million Dollar Club. They can be easily embeded on blogs and websites by clicking on the link symbol at the bottom of the visualization. Please contact MapLight if you need technical assistance.
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