They’re taking Manhattan — the borough’s money, that is.
But President Obama is taking it mostly from rich donors on the more liberal Upper West Side while Romney is collecting his fat checks from the more buttoned-down Upper East Side, according to a new analysis of campaign donations.
“If it weren’t for Central Park, the West Side Democratic Hatfields and the East Side Republican McCoys might be shooting it out,” quipped political consultant Hank Sheinkopf.
Of the top 10 ZIP codes across the country contributing to Obama and Romney, five of them are from Manhattan, data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics shows.
That makes Manhattan the center of the political universe when it comes to donations.
In all, Obama has raised $14,526,790 from Manhattan this election cycle and Romney has raised $10,267,967 from the borough.
But they’re collecting the funds from different neighborhoods in different cultural and political worlds — separated by Central Park.
Obama raised more than $3.5 million from three ZIP codes on the Upper West Side — 10024 ($1.391 million), 10023 ($1.205 million) and 10025 ($1,072 million).
The Democratic president also raised $1.2 million from ZIP 10011, covering Chelsea and Clinton.
And Obama also got financial love on traditional GOP turf, with $868,542 in donations coming from the 10021 ZIP on the Upper East Side.
For his part, Romney’s top donors were from ZIP codes all on the East Side, and mostly on the Upper East Side. He raked in about $4 million from Upper East Side ZIP codes 10021 ($1.25 million), 10065 ($940,261), 10128 ($917,457) and 10028 ($879,777).
Romney also collected $904,295 from ZIP Code 10022, encompassing tony Gramercy Park and Murray Hill.
The breakdown in donations is not a surprise given that, historically, wealthy Democrats have gravitated to the West Side and Republicans to the East Side, said Hunter College poli-sci professor Kenneth Sherrill.
Sherrill said the co-op boards on the West Side have been more tolerant to accepting people from the entertainment industry, who tend to lean Democrat, while business and Wall Street types have occupied the East Side. But he said that trend is starting to change.
Electorally speaking, New York is taken for granted by both political parties because the vote on Election Day almost always runs Democratic in national races. But presidential candidates come a courtin’ for the rich and famous in Manhattan to open their wallets to fill their campaign war chests.
“We’re the center of the universe,” said Manhattan County GOP Chairman Dan Isaacs. “New York is important to both political parties. We provide more money to the Republican Party than any county in the country.”
He even said that he hoped to build Republican inroads on the West Side — someday. “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he said.