October 25 2012 at 02:53 PM

Poll shows overwhelming opposition to money in politics, support for disclosure, public financing

Poll shows overwhelming opposition to money in politics, support for disclosure, public financing

A new poll released by the Corporate Reform Coalition shows that over 80 percent of Americans feel that secret campaign spending is bad for democracy, and nearly 90 percent believe that there is too much corporate money in politics. Poll results also found that overwhelming majorities within both major political parties (as well as independents) believe that big money makes politicians corrupt, and drowns out the voices of “average Americans.”

Eighty-seven percent of Americans agree that prompt disclosure of campaign expenditures would help voters hold companies accountable for their political activity, but spending by “intermediaries” such as the US Chamber of Commerce remain largely hidden, says a press release from the Coalition.

“Americans across the political spectrum have long held transparency in campaign finance to be crucial to the success of democracy. This poll shows that the public wants to close the backdoors to secret political spending,” said Blair Bowie, Democracy Advocate at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

“This poll reflects what we are seeing at the state level,” said Susannah Goodman, Director of Corporate Accountability at Common Cause. “Americans are fed up with secret corporate spending. They are ready to take action—boycotts, divesting stock, signing petitions, protests - whatever it takes to send a strong message to corporations to keep their money out of our elections.”

An analysis from Demos dives deeper into the poll results, showing that nearly half of respondents strongly believe that there is too much money in politics, and that secret money is bad for democracy. There’s also strong support for third party disclosure, small donor public financing, and shareholder approval of political spending.

Read more:

Demos: New Poll: Americans oppose corporate political spending, overwhelmingly support strong transparency and accountability reforms

Demos: Citizens Actually United: The Bi-Partisan Opposition to Corporate Political Spending and Support for Common Sense Reform

Public Citizen: New Poll: Americans condemn high levels of corporate political spending, overwhelmingly support strong transparency and accountability reforms

Read more about the Corporate Reform Coalition.