Title: AARP Is Officially Nonpartisan but Group Officials’ Money Mostly Goes to Dems
Headings: AARP Is Officially Nonpartisan but Group Officials’ Money Mostly Goes to Dems
Politics
AARP Is Officially Nonpartisan but Group Officials’ Money Mostly Goes to Dems

Content: The individuals made a total of 3,210 contributions to federal candidates, party and political action committees (PACs), and advocacy groups. Seven of the AARP employees made 61 contributions, which averaged $277 each and were worth a total of $16,871, to Republican candidates, including President Donald Trump and one conservative advocacy group. By contrast, the more than 320 remaining AARP employees made 3,149 discrete contributions worth a total of $183,868 to Democratic candidates, party and ideological advocacy committees, and PACs. In other words, a mere 1.9 percent of the contributions went to Republicans, with the remaining 98.1 percent going to Democrats and allied groups. By far, the favorite recipient of contributions from AARP members was Act Blue, the liberal Democratic PAC. Act Blue received nearly 2,400 contributions, worth $18 each on average, for a total of $42,889. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign received only 162 individual contributions from AARP members, but they averaged $270, for a total of $43,636. While the AARP PAC’s contributions reflect the partisan preferences of the organization’s employees, its membership is likely much more balanced. An Associated Press survey in 2018 found that 49 percent of voters 65 years of age or older voted Republican, compared with 48 percent for Democrats. Among voters between the ages of 50 and 64, 49 percent voted for Democrats, while 46 percent backed Republicans.