Replication Data for: Capital Influence: Endorsements and Donations to Political and Charitable Organizations

What affects citizens’ willingness to donate money to politics? We address this question by conducting a donation experiment during two nonpartisan elections in California in 2022. In the experiment, respondents receive a sum of money and then choose how much to donate to political and non-political recipients in a single policy area. We also randomly assign some respondents to receive different types of endorsements before making their decisions. Our results indicate that respondents give less money to political than non-political recipients. However, they make distinctions among political recipients, with donations to a ballot proposition campaign far exceeding those to a political candidate. Endorsements increase respondents’ willingness to give to political recipients, with the largest effects on donations to a political candidate and among politically knowledgeable respondents. These results shed light on factors that shape citizens’ political giving and demonstrate the value of political endorsements beyond influencing voting behavior.