Employees of some of the biggest tech firms in the United States are financially backing Barack Obama over John McCain by a lopsided ratio of nine to one, according to ZDNet's Robin Harris. Using fundraising data from OpenSecrets that covers donors who have contributed above $200, Harris found that employees of Apple, Dell, Microsoft, and Google and six other companies overwhelmingly support the Democratic nominee over his Republican counterpart. If you're Obama or a supporter, that 90% figure might seem like cause for celebration.
But you might also spot some room for improvement. Considering that Harris's list encompasses some fairly major companies that boast well-paid jobs, the raw numbers of donors aren't overly impressive; Harris cites just 170 contributors to Obama among Apple's ranks. Google finds itself home to 640 Obama contributors, Cisco, 240. Is there untapped potential for Obama in the tech world -- not only in dollars, but in enthusiasm?
The issues raised by that question are what's underlying Tech for Obama.