minorities donating little to presidential campaign

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CAMPAIGN_MINORITY_CONTRIBUTIONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-11-03-08-22-17

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans living in predominantly wealthy, white neighborhoods account for nearly all the sizable campaign contributions in this year's presidential election, according to an Associated Press analysis, even as the presidential candidates have aggressively courted Hispanics. Latino voters are widely viewed as pivotal for victories in some battleground states Tuesday.

The disparity in donating particularly affects Latinos. About 16 percent of the U.S. population is Hispanic, but not even 4 percent of the more than $1.3 billion in 3 million-plus itemized contributions came from mostly Hispanic neighborhoods this year, the AP's analysis showed. More than 90 percent came from majority white neighborhoods.

Hispanics, by at least this important measure of contributing to a candidate whose views they support, are remarkably disengaged in the election yet represent a significant ethnic group for President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.

"The hardest part is the economic sacrifice," said Roland Garcia, director of the Texas Future Fund, who helped raise money for Obama. "Latino families are busy trying to make ends meet."

[ananda]

1. That's because they have little, thanks to Reeps and corporatism.

nt

[Kahuna]

2. BINGO!!! I know about that personally. nt

[Chiquitita]

3. Are donations and contributions an upper middle class thing?

I grew up working class and people in my community never talked about donating money to political campaigns. There wasn't much extra money around.

[LuvNewcastle]

4. I haven't been able to donate either.

I get email from various Dems asking for donations and I would love to do it, but I just can't afford it. I feel kind of guilty about it, but it can't be helped.

[99Forever]

5. Poor people have better things to..

.. with their meager funds, like eat, than send it off to bloodsucking politicians who make promises to help them to a better life and completely forget about them once in office. And it has little to do with race.

I've got a news flash:

We're poor, not fucking stupid.

[KharmaTrain]

6. Investment = Return...

As stated in other posts, spending money on a campaign is a luxury; especially if you're struggling to make ends meet. Spending money and time in a campaign is an investment...one you place your time and money in hopes of getting some kind of pay off should your candidate win. We definitely see it among the rushpublicans as they see political office as something to be bought and then used for corporate interests while those on this side of the sandbox hope their investment is returned in social ones...civil rights for GLBT, equal pay for women, protecting SSI, reigning in the MIC and so on. As we saw here when the investment wasn't returned the investors can and do become malcontent. This can and does lead to alienation and a lack of future investment and involvement.

For the most part minorities have never had a seat at the table...never got much more than table scraps for their investment. Until President Obama blacks voted for white candidates who they hoped would better their lives...but never had a candidate or involvement in the process that made them feel vested. Hopefully that has started to change. The same goes for Hispanics and other groups that have stood on the sidelines with little influence once the votes are counted. With these groups rising in numbers and electoral importance my hopes are their investment will be worth more and thus they will be willing to invest as well...

[BlueToTheBone]

7. Yet another reason to get money out of politics.

We need to clean up and kick out the money guys and get back to the votes.

[crazydoc40]

8. Is this really true?

I have a hard time believing this. I am AA and I have donated twice as much as in 08 and this is true of several family members as well.

[SunsetDreams]

9. I guess I don't understand how they measured donations by race

When I've sent money in, I never saw a check box for race, or felt the need to include mine.