Voters don't seem to care about candidates' generosity

Americans contributed $358 billion to charity in 2014, according to Giving USA. How much did each current presidential candidate contribute to that record-setting sum? The candidates, for the most part, are not telling, and pollsters, the media, and voters are not asking.

According to her 2014 tax returns, Democrat Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton earned $28 million and contributed $3 million of their $3.3 million in charitable contributions to their own Clinton Foundation. Other contributions went to: St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church, First United Methodist Church, and Hot Springs High School Class of ’64. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., released only partial returns but said he gave $10,000 (about 5 percent) to charity in 2014.

On the Republican side, Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas disclosed partial tax returns late in February—without data on contributions. Donald Trump claims to have given millions to charity but refuses to release his returns until an Internal Revenue Service audit is completed. Ohio Gov. John Kasich has not released his returns.

Four years ago, Cruz’s lack of charitable giving became public during his run for the U.S. Senate. According to his 2010 tax returns, Cruz gave only 0.9 percent of his $2 million income to charity—far less than one might expect from a candidate seeking the evangelical vote. Publicly chided for his sub-par giving, Cruz admitted to Christian Broadcasting Network reporter David Brody that he had not lived up to the Bible’s charitable giving standard of 10 percent.

“I think it is reasonable for us to expect candidates who want to lead us to be examples for us, including in areas of generosity,” said Ed Stetzer, LifeWay Research executive director. “As is true in other areas of life, you can’t lead what you don’t live— and we need to be a generous people.”

But queries to LifeWay and five other polling and research entities turned up no studies on voters’ attitude on the subject of the candidates’ charitable giving. If voters believe benevolence is a measure of a candidate’s character, pollsters are not asking them about it and reporters are not pressing the issue.

On average, Americans donate about 3 percent of their income to charity. Studies by the Chronicle of Philanthropy and American Enterprise Institute reveal, in general, people on the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder contribute a larger percentage of their income to charity than their wealthier compatriots. Further, heads of households who identify as conservative and regularly attend religious services give far more than self-identified secular or religious liberals.

A study by the Philanthropic Roundtable may indicate why. Respondents to the 2015 study gave a politically nuanced answer when asked, “How much does society as a whole benefit when Americans donate money to charity?” Overall, 45 percent said society benefits “a large amount.” A breakdown of the answer revealed, “Democrats are also less enthusiastic, with 38 percent describing the benefit of charitable donations as ‘large’ and 40 percent choosing ‘moderate’—compared to 52 percent ‘large’ and 31 percent ‘moderate’ among Republicans.”

“When conservative, religious people say that it is the job of the church or Christians, rather than the government, to care for the poor, they really should be giving as if they actually believed that,” said Stetzer.

Of the $358 billion given to charity in 2014, 72 percent came from individuals, according to the study Giving USA 2015: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2014. The rest came from foundations, bequests, and corporations.

Often considered a measure of a person’s compassion, philanthropy can also indicate a politician’s commitment to civic engagement and the role they believe government should play in bolstering American society. Polling and the media notwithstanding, that’s a discussion worth having.