US News & World Report
says that employees at all but the most conservative think tanks give more to liberal candidates.
A U.S. News analysis of data from the Center for Responsive
Politics, a nonpartisan organization that tracks money in politics,
suggests that employees at all but the most conservative organizations
gave far more financial support to Democrats than Republicans over
the last four election cycles. During this time period (2003 through
2010), Republicans and Democrats each controlled both houses of Congress for four years, and Americans also elected both a Republican and a Democratic president.
Here is their analysis of moderate think tanks:
Employee contributions from some of the top moderate think tanks skew
decidedly to the left. For example, the Center for Strategic and
International Studies and the RAND Corporation, two of the policy
institutes with the most generous employees, have 84 percent and 91
percent Democratic giving records, respectively. The two think tanks
with the most bipartisan spread of campaign contributions--the Council
on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Institute--still have seen more than
two-thirds of their employees' reported contributions going toward
Democrats and liberal PACs since 2003. Even employees of the
Congressional Research Service, sometimes called "Congress' think tank,"
have given 100 percent of their donations since 2003 to Democratic
candidates and committees.
Here is the chart that they compiled:
| Organization |
Political Orientation |
2003-2010 Donations |
GOP % |
Dem % |
|---|
| Brookings Institution |
Liberal |
239,229 |
1.20% |
97.60% |
| Center for Strategic and International Studies |
Centrist |
169,620 |
12.30% |
83.80% |
| Center for American Progress |
Liberal |
164,227 |
0.30% |
98.80% |
| RAND Corporation |
Centrist |
160,525 |
8.80% |
91.20% |
| Council on Foreign Relations |
Centrist |
146,849 |
30.20% |
69.60% |
| Hoover Institution |
Conservative |
146,830 |
88.40% |
9.60% |
| Cato Institute |
Conservative |
127,800 |
99.60% |
0.00% |
| American Enterprise Institute |
Conservative |
85,495 |
93.00% |
0.60% |
| Urban Institute |
Liberal |
79,259 |
0.00% |
100.00% |
| Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |
Centrist |
53,175 |
0.90% |
99.10% |
| Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars |
Centrist |
51,895 |
14.50% |
85.50% |
| Kaiser Family Foundation |
Centrist |
49,500 |
0.00% |
98.00% |
| Center for a New American Security |
Centrist |
42,750 |
5.40% |
94.60% |
| Aspen Institute |
Centrist |
35,000 |
21.60% |
78.40% |
| U.S. Institute of Peace |
Centrist |
32,661 |
0.80% |
94.20% |
| Heritage Foundation |
Conservative |
31,646 |
100.00% |
0.00% |
| New America Foundation |
Centrist |
23,301 |
5.10% |
94.90% |
| Third Way |
Liberal |
11,850 |
0.00% |
100.00% |
| Congressional Research Service |
Centrist |
10,422 |
0.00% |
100.00% |
| Institute for Policy Studies |
Liberal |
5,850 |
0.00% |
100.00% |
| National Bureau of Economic Research |
Centrist |
1,750 |
0.00% |
100.00% |
