New Polls Show Rejection of Supreme Court Ruling & Strong Support for Reform
Recent opinion polling is sending a clear message to Washington: Americans are tired of corporate and special interest influence on politics and want a strong overhaul of our broken campaign finance system.
An Angus Reid public opinion poll found that nearly two thirds of Americans (65%) disagree with the Supreme Court's recent decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which allowed corporations and unions to spend without limit from their treasuries to influence elections. 44% disagreed strongly with the ruling, and only 17% expressed agreement. A large majority of Americans (68%) believe the Supreme Court’s decision hands more influence to lobbyists and special interest groups to tip the outcome of elections.
About three quarters of respondents across the country are in favor of legislation that would regulate the way corporations can spend in political advertising, such as requiring the approval of a majority of shareholders before a corporation can run a political ad (74%); requiring that the chief executive of the corporation appear at the end of the ad so the public knows who is behind it (75%), and limiting the ad-spending of corporations that have received federal bailout money or that are awarded federal contracts (75%).
Another poll, conducted by a bipartisan research team including Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and McKinnon Media, showed strong voter support for citizen funding as a means of addressing the influence of big money and lobbyists in Congress.
67% of voters support providing qualified congressional candidates a limited amount of public funds if they agree to take no large contributions, compared with 20% opposed.
A larger percentage of voters favor public funding “strongly” (44%) than those who are opposed or undecided combined. What’s more, every major demographic and political group solidly favored the proposal, including 69% of Democrats, 64% of Republicans, and 66% of independents. Support is driven by a sense of urgency for change in Washington DC and the strong perception that members of Congress are indebted to their wealthy contributors rather than average constituents.
With powerful support from the academic and political communities and an unprecedented levels of popular will behind it, there simply is no excuse to put off the one reform that will restore the power in our democracy back to the people. The Fair Elections Now Act (which would match small, in-state donations with public funds for qualified candidates who agree to forgo large contributions from special interests) must be part of this Congress's response to Citizens United.