US presidential election to cost $6 billion

What with an economic recession and record unemployment it may come to alarm people just how much a US Presidential election can cost. Of course, in reality, it is not piddling matter as the potential position is one of the most powerful in the world but at the price tag that it supposedly costs, even ideologues will blush.

According to a recently released report, the total cost of the present US Presidential election will be a record sum of $6 billion with the Presidential election itself costing around$2.5 billion, a marked increase on the previous Presidential election in 2008.

The report, put together by the Centre for Responsive Politics, based out of Washington, DC, details and charts how over the years the so-called price tag of the Presidential election has steadily increased. According to the report, the figure outdoes that of many other developed countries, being inordinately higher than countries such as the United Kingdom, which had a total cost of $49 million for its elections. According to the report, the increase in spending since last the 2008 election was by 7 per cent, rising from 5.4 billion to the present 5.8 billion. The breakdown exactly of this sum has $2.53 billion being spent on the US Presidential election itself, surprisingly down from the previous election, which stood at $2.9 billion. A sum of $1.8 billion will be spent on the congressional elections, an increase on 2008’s $1.5 billion with super PAC spending increasing to $750 million.

Projected per person spending for the US was put at $18, quite high, if compared to Canada, which spent $8 per person. The report detailed how most of the money that was donated to the respective presidential campaigns came from the business sector, with 77 per cent of all contributions coming from ‘business interests.’

By sector, the finance, insurance and real estate sector led the list of political contributors, giving around $349 million, while within this sector, the investment and securities industry, contributed $144.2 million of the above sum. The report was keen to note that this industry, that finds its centre on Wall Street, was clearly siding with Republican candidate Mitt Romney, with those employed in it, donating $10.5 million to his Presidential campaign while incumbent, Barack Obama, only received $3.8 million.

Speaking about the report, executive director of the Centre for Responsive Politics, Sheila Krumholz said, “Although a lot of money still remains to be raised and spent, the data already show that we're on track to break the extraordinary, record-setting sums spent in 2008. That cycle was the first in which we crossed the $5 billion mark, and the big question now is whether we will already reach -- or surpass - $6 billion just one cycle later. At a minimum, we'll come close. More important than the total spent, the real difference this cycle is how great a portion of that money will come from purportedly independent, often secretive groups.”