Microsoft employees are backing President Barack Obama, via their campaign donations, over his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, by a wide margin.
Obama has raised $351,416 via Microsoft, while Romney, $77,190, according to Open Secrets.
Campaign contributions to candidates that are credited to Microsoft, or any firm for that matter, are contributions not from the company but from its employees, which can include immediate family, who identify themselves as employees of the company. It can include PAC donations as well, although the Obama campaign isn’t accepting PAC donations directly.
Microsoft also leads the list of all organizations in donations attributed to Obama.
Microsoft employees were the top tech donors to Obama’s 2008 effort.
The person who was appointed last year federal CIO, Steven VanRoekel, was a long time Microsoft executive who donated $50,000 to Obama's 2009 inauguration festivities.
Open Secrets publishes a list of the top 20 donors for each candidate. The only other tech firm on the Obama list is Google, which comes in at 5th with $212,719 donated to Obama.
The leading tech contributor to Romney is EMC Corp., at $129,200. It is 16th on the list, with Goldman Sachs on top at $573,000.
Microsoft is located in an area, Seattle, that tends to vote Democratic. In 2008, Obama carried nearly 70% of the county vote that includes Microsoft in the race against U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Arz.).