Workers
at many of the largest U.S. tech companies overwhelmingly back Democratic
presidential candidate Kamala Harris, according to donation data, even as some
of the most powerful tech billionaires have thrown their support to Republican
rival Donald Trump.
Workers
at Alphabet, opens new tab, Amazon, opens new tab and Microsoft, opens new tab
are donating millions of dollars to the Harris campaign, significantly more
than employees who are opting to send money to former President Trump’s camp,
according to the data compiled by political watchdog OpenSecrets. The data
includes donations made by company employees, owners, and workers' and owners'
immediate family members.
However,
tech billionaires like Tesla, opens new tab Chief Executive Elon Musk and
venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben
Horowitz are rallying behind Trump, citing the former president's stances on
the economy, taxes and big business.
The
Nov. 5 presidential election has riven Silicon Valley, once a bastion of
democratic and liberal support. Venture capitalist Reid Hoffman from Greylock
and entrepreneur Mark Cuban are pledging support for Harris’ White House bid,
with hopes of seeing more abortion rights for workers and pro-tech policies.
But
in recent years several other tech leaders have bristled at Democratic
President Joe Biden’s business policies, including a broad attack on mergers
and acquisitions and clamping down on data privacy.
Companies
themselves can not directly donate to federal campaigns, including presidential
ones, according to campaign finance laws. Corporations often donate to
congressional and state-level campaigns through political action committees,
which are funded by employee donations and limited on how much candidates can
receive.
“Many
businesses serve customers on both sides of the political aisle, and they don't
want to alienate customers by making contributions that support just one party
or one candidate in a partisan race,” said Michael Beckel, research director at
campaign finance reform nonprofit Issue One. While corporations are blocked
from sending money directly to presidential candidates, their employees aren't,
and tech employees are overwhelmingly giving to Harris. Employees
at Alphabet and its subsidiaries, which includes Google, and their family
members have donated $2.16 million so far to Harris’ campaign, nearly 40 times
as much as Trump has received, according to OpenSecrets.
Amazon
and Microsoft employees and family members donated $1 million and $1.1 million,
respectively. Trump’s campaign pulled in $116,000 from Amazon workers and
$88,000 from Microsoft workers, as well as their family members.
Employees
at Amazon, which is also a top U.S. retailer and the second largest employer in
the country, are outpacing donations from other e-commerce and brick-and-mortar
retail workers.
For
example, Walmart workers have donated a total of $275,000 to both Harris and
Trump, with both presidential candidates receiving nearly the same amount in
funding. Trump’s campaign is taking in $144,000 from Walmart workers, about
$14,000 more than Harris’.
Campaign
donations mostly come from corporate employees who have more disposable income
than the typical warehouse worker or cashier, said Sarah Bryner, director of
research and strategy for OpenSecrets. Bryner said Amazon and other tech
company corporate employees often make more money than those at Walmart, giving
them more leeway to contribute to political campaigns.
Amazon
corporate employees on average make more money than Walmart corporate
employees, who are often based in Bentonville, Arkansas. Amazon’s U.S.
corporate employees take home an average of $133,000 per year, while Walmart’s
corporate workers’ average annual salary is $85,000, according to data from job
marketplace ZipRecruiter.
Workers
and family members at Meta, opens new tab and Apple, opens new tab haven’t hit
the $1 million mark in donations to Harris yet, but they are continuing the
trend of outpacing contributions to Trump. Meta employees have donated $25,000
to Trump compared with $835,000 to Harris, while Apple employees donated
$44,000 to Trump compared with $861,000 to Harris.
Silicon
Valley has traditionally been seen as more left-leaning in the U.S. In August,
more than 100 venture capitalists said in a letter they would support Harris,
who has been considered pro-innovation on business and technology.