In July, Mitt Romney headed to London, then onto the Middle East and Poland to celebrate the opening of the Olympics, burnish his foreign policy credentials and raise some cash. It’s not an unusual step for a presidential candidate, and President Barack Obama has tapped into his popularity around the world to bring in cash for his own campaign. While only U.S. citizens and green card holders can make contributions to political campaigns, the expat community does contribute a significant amount of money — about $1.1 million in donations greater than $200 through the end of July — and so far this year, they’re absentee voting with their dollars for Obama.

According to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics , based on the latest Federal Election Commission filings, Obama has raised at least $779,000 from donors outside of the United States, while Romney has picked up $383,368.

In 2008, the two major campaigns raised $2.3 million from overseas , and in 2004, about $910,000 . These figures only count donations from individuals who have given over $200 — anything less than that and the FEC does not require campaigns to break out detailed information about the donors.

Both Obama and Romney have significant sources of support in the United Kingdom — and fairly comparable amounts — with Obama receiving $246,000 from there, and Romney receiving $219,000.

After that, similarities in foreign giving end, with most other countries leaning heavily in one direction or another. The second biggest source of foreign money for Romney is China, with $10,000 from the mainland, and $104,000 from Hong Kong. Obama, on the other hand, only picked up $29,000 from all of China, and just $10,000 from Hong Kong.

There may be a pattern to that disparity, as Hong Kong is a center of international banking and investment, and American bankers and investors have overwhelmingly backed Romney so far. Adding evidence to that theory, expats in Singapore , which is also a major international trade center, lean towards Romney in contributions, sending his campaign $16,000, while only $12,000 to Obama’s.

Obama proves to be much more popular in Europe — his second biggest source of foreign cash is France, where expats have ponied up $110,000 for him (Romney has received just $2,500.) Switzerland where Obama’s campaign picked up $66,000 (to Romney’s $9,700) is the president’s third largest source of foreign cash.

Included in these numbers are donations sent to the presidential campaigns by American troops stationed overseas and members of the diplomatic corps. We’ve done separate analyses of giving by members of the military based on the listed employer or occupation of campaign donors, but in this analysis we relied on zip codes and postal addresses. By this measure, Obama also has a significant lead over Romney.

According to our analysis, Obama’s campaign has received at least $45,000 from donors with addresses that list “Army Post Office” (which also includes the Air Force), while Romney has received at least $4,318. Contributions from naval post office addresses also favor Obama over Romney, $13,800 to $1,750.

Below are charts listing the top ten sources of donations from overseas, by country (including those linked to U.S. military post offices):

Barack Obama

Country Amount UK $246,675 France $110,025 Switzerland $66,601 Canada $53,616 U.S. Diplomatic $50,030 U.S. Army $45,311 Japan $30,660 Germany $28,338 China $19,000 U.S. Navy $13,800









Mitt Romney

Country Amount UK $219,000 Hong Kong $104,500 Singapore $16,000 China $10,000 Switzerland $9,700 Poland $5,000 U.S. Army $4,318 Thailand $3,500 France $2,500 Spain $2,500

Image: Romney meeting with British foreign minister William Hague on July 26, 2012, in London, via British Foreign Office. Photo of globe from jbachman01 via flickr.



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About The Author Russ joined the Center in March 2012 as the money-in-politics reporter. His duties include reporting for OpenSecrets Blog and assisting with press inquiries. Russ has a background in investigative journalism, having worked as a reporter for the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, and he spent five years as a newspaper reporter in New Hampshire. He has a degree in political science from Muhlenberg College and a M.A. in journalism and public affairs from American University. Follow Russ Choma

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