Dealergate numbers crunched

Liberals are claiming, with scant evidence, that car dealers are almost all Republicans and that’s why those being closed were mostly Republican. Let’s actually look at the evidence.

The Closing List: 90% donated to Republicans ($450,000), 10% donated to Democrats ($7,970).

So the ration would be 9:1 in dealership and roughly 56.5:1 in contributions.

So I used Huffington post’s Fundrace2008 and search several combinations of “automotive dealer”, including “car dealer” car dealership owner”

“Automotive Dealer” turned up 13 results. 11 gave to Republicans ($15,900), 2 gave to Democrats ($1,100)

“Car Dealer” turned up 200 results. 141 gave to Republicans ($171,328), 42 gave to Democrats ($44,175).

“Car Dealership Owner” turned up 4 results. 2 gave to Republicans ($2,650). 2 gave to Democrats ($2,100).

“Auto Dealer” turned up 763 results. 546 gave to Republicans ($761,742). 72 gave to Democrats ($88,870).

“Automobile Dealer” turned up 192 results. 138 gave to Republicans ($272,507). 20 gave to Democrats ($27,335).

“Auto Dealership Owner” turned up 4 results. All 4 gave to Republicans ($3,430).

Based on the number of dealers, 828 gave to Republicans and 138 gave to Democrats. So the ration is 6:1 (The closing list was 9:1)

Based on amount given (a more accurate reflection since the assumption is the more they gave the more likely they were to be on the list)  $1,227,557 was given to Republicans and $163,580 was given to Democrats. That’s a ratio of 7.5:1 (The closed list was 56.5:1)

The stats do support the theory that GOP contributors were targeted, and/or, DNC contributors were spared. Remember all of the DNC contributors on the closed list gave $250 or less.

Posted by Danny Carlton at May 29, 2009 8:41 AM