Billionaires have always had a strong influence on the outcome of American elections, whether through their financial contributions, their actions or their words. With the race for the White House in November 2024 being no exception, it is interesting to know the political positions of the largest fortunes in the United States.
Which US presidential candidate received the most financial support from American billionaires?
Beyond the televised rallies and debates, the American presidential race is also played out behind the scenes. Indeed, it has proven in the past that financial support invested directly or indirectly in a candidate's campaign can naturally influence the results of an election.
Although generous donors among American billionaires receive no formal compensation for their donations, they sometimes take a stand publicly for various reasons, whether financial or moral.
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Thanks to a major study carried out by our colleagues at Bloomberg based on data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC), we learn that Donald Trump appears to be the most popular candidate among American billionaires.
In fact, the latter received at least $24.4 million donations from America's wealthiest billionaires against $12.8 million for her opponent Kamala Harris, almost half.
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What are the fortunes behind Donald Trump's campaign?
Among the list of the 37 richest American billionaires who have taken an official position, whether through a donation, actions or words, 15 would support the Republican candidate.
Donald Trump's financial advantage comes largely from the 3 donors who are Miriam Adelson, Diane Hendricks and Kelcy Warren. Indeed, each of these valuable allies has donated the highest possible amount to Donald Trump's campaign as well as to the super PAC ” Trump Committee 47 ” or $844,600 and $5 million respectively.
Super Political Action Committees (PACs) operate on an individual basis, independent of the candidate they support, but they can still spend huge amounts of money on advertising, media campaigns, or other forms of support or opposition to candidates.
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Elon Musk, who needs no introduction, has officially endorsed Donald Trump after the failed assassination attempt against him. Although the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has not made a direct donation to the Republican candidate's campaign, he has helped launch America PAC, a super PAC linked to Donald Trump.
Furthermore, through his publications on the social network X that he chairs, he regularly seems to agree with the vision of the policy that Donald Trump intends to pursue.
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Kamala Harris's Supporters Among US Billionaires
On the Democratic candidate's side, 22 of America's 37 richest billionaires support him. The wealthiest of Kamala Harris's supporters is Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, who has donated nearly $3 million to support Kamala Harris.
The stepdaughter of Sam Walton, the founder of the famous Walmart chain of storesfor his part organized a fundraiser for Kamala Harris. Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Meta and Laurene Powell Jobswidow of Steve Jobs, have respectively given nearly $1 million to the Biden Victory Fund.
Steven Spielberg also donated nearly $1 million to the same fund, which after the current US President Joe Biden dropped out of the campaign, became a fund to support Kamala Harris.
The largest donation to Future Forward PAC, a super PAC affiliated with Kamala Harris that now accepts crypto donations, went to George Soros with $15 million in donations.
Finally, very rich and influential personalities such as Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett did not participate in the donations, apparently wanting to distance themselves from the political scene.
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Source: Bloomberg study
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