New battleground survey shows sustainable support for proposals to reduce influence of money in politics
The most recent battleground survey conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for Democracy Corps and Public Campaign Action Fund fielded just one week after the Supreme Court handed down its decision in McCutcheon v. FEC. This survey of the 50 most competitive Republican districts and 36 most competitive Democratic districts finds that voters from both parties and all demographic groups are angered by the influence of big money and remain strongly supportive of efforts to reduce the influence of money in politics.
Across the battleground, voters are deeply discouraged with the direction of the country. Just a quarter (25 percent) say the country is headed in the right direction; two thirds (67 percent) say we are off on the wrong track. Voters in both Democratic and Republican districts give their incumbents low job approval ratings and they give even lower ratings for the parties in Congress.
This context shapes voters’ serious support for efforts to reform the influence of money in politics—even when they are exposed to negative information about reform proposals.
Incumbents from both parties would do well to champion bold reforms like those laid out in this survey as part of a campaign against the status quo in Washington. These are vulnerable incumbents in the most unpopular of partisan institutions. Embracing reform and transparency offers them a way to campaign against Washington.
