While money flowing into U.S. elections has become increasingly unregulated and the 2016 election is slated to surpass spending records, a recent poll found that a majority of Americans of both parties support measures to restrict the influence of wealthy donors in politics.
The results of the New York Times/CBS News poll show that five years after the U.S. Supreme Court opened up the floodgates for campaign donations with its Citizens United decision, both Republicans and Democrats actually want more regulations on the influence of money in politics. And even though Republican politicians have been the most involved in opposing regulations, the poll shows that a majority of Republicans favor a sweeping overhaul of how political campaigns raise money.
Republican leaders in Congress have worked tirelessly to block legislation requiring the disclosure of so-called dark money that pours into groups which keep their donors’ identities secret. But three-quarters of Republicans surveyed said they support more disclosure by outside spending groups.
While Americans want government to step in to mandate the disclosure of all contributions and eliminate corruption, the chair of the Federal Election Commission recently said the agency charged with enforcing the laws is “worse than dysfunctional” and will be powerless to rein in abuses in the 2016 campaign.
The FEC’s pessimism about its abilities to improve the current free-for-all campaign finance situation is shared by Americans — more than half of respondents also said they were pessimistic that the rules would be improved.
Some of the wealthiest political donors have already vowed to spend massive amounts of money in the 2016 election and candidates are eager to line up the billionaires who will bankroll their campaigns. While those who will benefit have largely remained silent about campaign finance reform, other GOP contenders have spoken out. “There’s going to be a need and a movement to try to control the money in politics,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who announced his candidacy Monday but will likely struggle to match the fundraising of many other candidates. Likewise, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) recently expressed concerns with undisclosed donations, saying in New Hampshire that “what is corrupting in this potentially is we don’t know where the money is coming from.”
Presidential candidates on the left, including Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), have called for a constitutional amendment to limit the impact of undisclosed, unregulated money in politics. But even Clinton has recognized that in order to compete in the current landscape, she’ll also have to secure big donors. The leading super PAC backing Clinton, Priorities USA Action, hopes to raise more than twice as much as Democratic groups did for President Obama in 2012.