Wall Street spending sets new record in presidential campaign

Lewis Wallace Oct 26, 2016
HTML EMBED:
COPY
STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images

Wall Street spending sets new record in presidential campaign

Lewis Wallace Oct 26, 2016
STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Wall Street has spent $1.4 billion on donations and lobbying this election, more than twice the contributions by any other industry, according to a new study by Americans for Financial reform. That works out to $2.3 million per day from January 2015 to September 2016. And it wasn’t banks that led the effort, despite the political rhetoric around their role in big-money politics. Real estate interests topped the charts, spending $66 million. Perhaps less surprising: 61 percent of financial sector contributions went to Republican candidates, and 39 percent to Democrats.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.