Which political party has more wealthy voters?

Answer 1

In the United States, traditionally, the Republican Party has been the party of business, and thus attracted the majority of wealthy business owners and others interested in maintaining the status quo.

However, over the past 30 years since the Republican Party discovered the power of the Religious Conservative movement, their membership has swelled with heavily socially conservative voters, who tend to be considerably poorer than the typical "average" Republican of before. At the same time, many Republican Party policies have soured (particularly) small businesses owners, who have left. If I had to break it down on class levels, the Reps now are mostly Upper Upper Class (superrich), Upper Class (rich), Lower Middle Class, and Upper Lower Class folks.

On the other side, the Democratic party has long been heavily represented by blue-collar union workers, and the urban poor (typically, minorities). Over the past 30 years as the Republican Party has turned to social conservatism and pro-Big Business policies, the Democratic party has attracted two new constituencies: the middle/upper middle class highly educated, and the socially liberal wealthy. A substantial portion of the truly wealthy class in the US cannot support the social conservatism of the Republican Party, and thus have moved to the Democrats (even though it might not be in their own self-interest, economically). Similarly, a very large portion of those with a high level of education have become Democratic due to social policy, and these folks make up the Professional class (doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.). In a similar generalization, I'd say the Democrats are now the majority in the Middle/Lower Lower Class.

The Upper Middle Class (well-off) still likely leans Republican, as that area includes a large number of retirees and older folks who are traditionally more socially conservative.

So, overall, I'd estimate that the breakdown of the two parties is (by wealth class):

Top 1%: 90% Rep, 10% Dem

Top 5%: 60% Rep, 40% Dem

Top 25%: 30% Rep, 70% Dem

Middle 50%: 50% Rep, 50% Dem

Bottom 25%: 70% Rep, 30% Dem

The bottom 25% is much more heavily Republican only because I'm counting those who ACTUALLY VOTE. Registration-wise, there is likely to be a Democratic edge in the bottom 50% of all voters (i.e more people registered Dem than Rep), but those registered Rep are more likely to actually vote in an election, so it turns out that it appears that there are more Rep than Dem votes in the lower 50%.

[Further note: the above goes to party registration only. About one-third of total voters consider themselves "Independent", though they may be registered with one party or the other. The voters tend to be the "swing" votes, as they will frequently support different parties in each election, whereas "solid" Republican/Democract supporters vote for their party in most elections. Those labeling themselves Independent tend to be mostly from the second quartile (i.e. 50-75% wealth bracket). That is, Independents tend to be Middle Class (of all stripes), not Upper or Lower class.]