In the USA, it is prohibited for companies to give money to politicians, but employees are encouraged to make donations and then receive bonuses for this type of support.
Employees of the largest technology companies in the United States have been strongly supporting the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, according to donation data available on the OpenSecrets NGO platform.
In the USA, electoral legislation does not allow companies and organizations to contribute directly to electoral campaigns. To bypass the restriction, these companies encourage employees to make donations and receive a bonus for their support.
According to OpenSecrets, which maps investments and donations involving the US government, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet (Google’s parent company),
Microsoft, and Nvidia donated around $5.4 million to the Democratic campaign, while the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, received approximately $330,000.
Even X (formerly Twitter), owned by billionaire Elon Musk, was responsible for donating $13,213 to the Democrat, compared to just $468 for the Republican.
Musk, a supporter of Trump’s return to the White House, has been making donations on his own and reportedly committed in July to donate $45 million to the campaign.
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, Alphabet, Apple, and Nvidia contributed to Kamala with $2.1 million, $861,000, and $233,000, respectively.
Amazon, from Seattle (Washington), contributed another $1 million. Meanwhile, Microsoft, from Redmond (Washington), forwarded an additional $1.1 million to the campaign.
These companies are in the so-called “blue states.” In those states, it is certain that the Democratic Party will emerge as the winner in the November 5 elections.
Find out how much each candidate for the US Presidency received in donations from big tech companies:
Sarah Bryner, the research and strategy director at OpenSecrets, told Reuters that campaign donations mainly come from corporate employees with higher incomes. Bryner also stated that companies with higher market value have more “leeway” to contribute to campaigns.
