More doctors donate to Dems than GOP

More doctors donated to Democrats than to Republicans in the last election cycle, a new study finds, continuing the shift toward the Democratic Party. 

{mosads}The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, finds that around 55 percent of doctors who made a contribution donated to Democrats, and 45 percent donated to Republicans in the 2013-2014 cycle. 

The Democratic preference continues a trend that the study notes has been going on since the 1990s. 

In 1995-1996, for example, a large majority, 72 percent, of doctors donated to Republicans. But that percentage declined over time until finally dropping below 50 percent in 2007-2008, the year of a Democratic wave and President Obama’s election. 

The 2010 midterms saw a bump back to majority Republican donations, but now, even in a strong 2014 Republican midterm year, the donations remain majority Democratic. 

“In general, the shift in campaign contributions toward the Democrats that prevailed in 2011 to 2012 and earlier election cycles continued, even in the 9 states where the Republicans gained Senate seats,” the authors write. 

The authors’ previous work had noted that the rising percentage of female doctors and the falling number of doctors in small practices has contributed to the shift towards Democrats. 

They also noted that specialties with higher earnings were more likely to support Republicans.