Democrats, who speak passionately about the hungry and homeless, personally fork over less money to charity than Republicans — the ones who try to cut health insurance for children.
Nicholas D. Kristof, in Bleeding Heart Tightwads. Kristoff notes charitable-giving research supports Arthur Brooks’ conclusion that liberals are less wiling to put their money where their mouths are.
Unsurprisingly, each party’s religious out-give secular fellows; and disproportionately to religious causes. However, conservatives also give more (on a percentage-of-income basis) to secular causes. Further, they lead in volunteering time and donating blood. A near sweep!
Other points of interest: Gays, unable to sink money into their dream weddings and raising families, give more than average; and, embarrassingly, the working poor give at higher percentages than the middle class.
So, my dear, idealistic, heterosexual, irreligious Democrats of means, heed Kristof’s “transparent attempt to…shame” you into more private giving. Obama will more than match it in public giving - promise. (via boutofcontext)
This doesn’t surprise me much. Conservatives tend to think that private giving can take the place of state wealth redistribution. Liberals tend to think that private giving will be insufficient and that the state must therefore step in.
These statistics are perfectly consistent with these worldviews — they just give us pause as we consider the causal relationships.
