Hillary Clinton with a look of concern

America’s Biggest Food Companies Support Hillary Clinton, with One Glaring Exception

If you were an exec at a big corporation that mass-produces food or farm chemicals, who would you rather see prevail in November's presidential election?

September 28, 2016 | Source: Mother Jones | by Tom Philpott

If you were an exec at a big corporation that mass-produces food or farm chemicals, who would you rather see prevail in November's presidential election?

To get an idea of where Big Food and Ag stand on the 2016 race, I dug into the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org campaign-finance database—which gathers data on contributions from corporations, businesses, trade groups, and their employees—with the help of CRP researcher Doug Weber. I found that as of August 31, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton enjoys about a 2-to-1 lead over Republican rival Donald Trump.

However, just like her lead in the polls, her status as the race's chief agribusiness cash magnet got a little weaker in August. By the end of July, Clinton had drawn $1.2 million in agribusiness donations compared to $394,415 for Trump, data supplied to me by Weber shows a 3-to-1 advantage for the former secretary of state. But in August, the reality TV impresario began to close the gap (though he still raised less cash).