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Politics

Disclosure Matters More Than Campaign Donation Restrictions, Voters Say

July 22, 2015 - 7:15pm

When it comes to campaign cash, voters care more about disclosures than campaign donation restrictions, according to a new poll.

The Rasmussen Reports poll of likely voters found over half -- 57 percent -- said they believe it is more important to disclose the source of all contribution money rather than limiting how much money an individual can contribute to a campaign.

One-third of voters believe it is more important to limit how much money an individual can contribute to a campaign rather than disclosing the source of all contributions.

More Democrats than Republicans believed it was more important to limit campaign contributions (42 percent to 25 percent), while more Republicans believed disclosing the source of contributions was more important than Democrats did. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans said disclosure was more important while 49 percent of Democrats said they felt the same.

More than half of voters -- 54 percent -- disagreed, however, with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last year that campaign contribution limits violate an individual’s First Amendment right to freedom of political speech.

Most voters (67 percent) say they still feel a candidate’s political positions are more impactful in determining the outcome of an election rather than how much money he or she can spend. Republican voters feel this much more strongly than Democrats.

Only 23 percent believe the amount of money a candidate can spend is more important.

Campaign contributions can impact the direction of politicians’ campaigns by giving money to help candidates hit the ground running and maintain momentum as they inch closer and closer to Election Day.

In 2013, Florida changed its campaign finance laws significantly. Beginning at the end of 2013, contribution limits to candidates were raised to $500 per election to $3,000 per statewide candidates and to $1,000 per election for legislative and local candidates.

In 2014, thousands of donors pumped millions of dollars into statewide campaigns. Last year’s bitter governor’s race between former Gov. Charlie Crist and Gov. Rick Scott topped $150 million, breaking state records and marking itself as one of the costliest campaigns nationwide.

Some top campaign donors for Scott included many health care companies while Crist’s list of donors consisted mostly of trial lawyers.

The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted on Jul. 16 and 19 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.

 

Reach Tampa-based reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen  


 

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Does Rasmussen always poll LIVs?

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