According to a study published on April 27, 2015 in JAMA Internal Medicine, docs are turning blue and are now giving more campaign contributions to Democrats than Republicans.
Democrats 55% – Republicans 45%
The proportion of all physician donors contributing to Republicans fell from 69% in the 1993 to 1994 cycle to 44% in the 2007 to 2008 cycle, and then ticked upward to 56% during 2009 to 2010 (during the Obamacare debates), before settling back at 45%. That means 55% of physician political donations went to Democrats in the last two elections.
The study was conducted by Adam Bonica, Ph.D. from Stanford University’s Department of Political Science, Howard Rosenthal, Ph.D. and David Rothman, Ph.D. Rothman, readers might remember, was the North American Spine Society’s (NASS) ethics advisor when the society instituted tougher disclosure and industry relationship guidelines.
Changing Demographics
The percentage of money going to Republicans has been declining since the mid-1990s. In an April 27, 2015 Reuters Health story, Rothman attributed the shift to the way medicine is practiced today and who is entering and leaving the profession.
More Women, Less Private Practice
Physician demographics are changing as more women become doctors and more physicians go to work for nonprofit healthcare organizations instead of going into private practice, he said.
The researchers adjusted the dollar value of contributions to 2012 dollars and excluded single contributions greater than $1 million, including $43 million donated in 2012 by Miriam Adelson, M.D., a physician married to billionaire Sheldon Adelson. That money went to Republicans.
According to Rothman, “male physicians have consistently favored Republicans more than female doctors have. Surgeons have been more likely than pediatricians to back Republicans. And, physicians at for-profit practices have also been more Republican-leaning in their donations than doctors at not-for-profits.”
Physician Contributions Increasing
Last June we reported that during the 1992 election cycle, 11, 801 doctors contributed the equivalent of $20 million to political campaigns. Two decades later, 67, 852 physicians contributed a total of $143.2 million to candidates and causes. An analysis of the most recent 11 election cycles found that 57% of the contributions from male doctors went to Republicans. During the 2012 election cycle men gave 52.3% to Republicans and women doctors gave just 23.6%.
Conservative Docs Retiring
The shifting loyalties aren’t the result of doctors changing their minds about who to back, the researchers wrote. Instead, the shift “reflects more conservative physicians retiring or choosing not to donate, and more liberal people entering the profession or opting to contribute.”
“This trend is going to be pretty lasting, and I think you are going to see a gradual creep in the direction of the Democrats for a while, ” said Theda Skocpol, Ph.D., a professor of government and sociology at Harvard University in the Reuters story. Skocpol wasn’t involved in the study. For the foreseeable future, physicians will probably be fairly evenly split in party loyalty, Skocpol said.
More Clout?
This is probably good news for physicians as being perceived as a one-party interest group, diminishes their effectiveness. Both parties will want to court physicians for campaign contributions and give physicians more political access. The study concluded that this shift towards Democrats will complicate attempts by medical professionals to reach consensus on health policy issues but might lead both major parties to work harder for physicians’ support.
