5.1.2 Campaign finance Flashcards
6
Describe the McCain-Feingold reforms 2002
- Bans ‘soft money’ to national parties
- Raises individual contribution (‘hard money’) limit to $2k per candidate per election
- Corporations and unions banned from funding issue advocacy advertisements
- Prohibits ‘electioneering communications’ 60 days prior to election
- ‘Stand By Your Ad’ (SBYA) - requires candidates to endorse campaign adverts to discourage attack ads + contorversial claims
- Some provisions challenged in US, but some remain
3
Describe ‘soft’ money
- Money donated to party, rather than candidate
- Used for ‘party-building activities’, rather than direct endorsement of candidate
- subject to few limits
2
Describe ‘hard’ money
- Donations directly to electoral campaign
- subject to strict limits
Describe ‘dark money’
- Donations made to political campaigns where donor’s name is not disclosed
1
Describe ‘electioneering communications’
- Broadcast, mail, etc for federal candidates
3
Describe the terms of Citizens United v FEC 2010 for campaign finance
- Determines campaign donations to be free speech
- Campaign limits placed on organisations are unconstitutional
- Led to rise of Super-PACs
4
Describe 527s
- tax-exempt organisations created to influence electoral outcomes
- cannot call for election/defeat of speciifc candidate
- can raise $5k donation per campaign
- can donate directy to campaign
5
Describe PACs (Political Action Committees)
- Group that fundraises for campaign
- can raise unlimited amounts
- but cannot call for election/defeat of specific candidate
- An organisation becomes a PAC when it spends over $1000 on a candidate
- Has to register with the FEC when this happens
3
PACs can donate…
- $5000 to a candidate
- $15,000 to a political party
- $5000 to another PAC
3
Outline the different types of PACs
- Connected Pacs → created by businesses, labour unions, etc
- Non-Connected PACs → ideological, single-issue groups
- Leadership PACs → can call for the election of a candidate → they can take donations from individuals and other pacs
3
Describe Super-PACs
- PACs that can raise and spend unlimited amounts for electoral campaign
- can call for election/defeat of candidate
- cannot liaise with candidate in determining spending
6
Describe why it is difficult to enact campaign finance reform
- Groups have found ways to circumvent legislation through creation of PACs, 527s, Super-PACs
- SC rulings have made campaign finance reform difficult by striking down legislation (Citizens United v FEC 2010)
- Incumbents have benefitted from current system and thus reluctant to reform
- lack of consensus on what reform would look like
- hyperpartisanship
- difficult to eliminate factors such as free media attention
2
Describe the arguments that campaign finance should be reformed
- Elitism
- Transparency
7
Describe the argument that campaign finance should be reformed - elitism
- Elections increasingly determined by money spent by wealthy organisations
- especially in age of media-heavy, centrally-organised campaigns
- 2020 - Biden campaign outspent Trump
- Entry to elections dependent on name recognition or private wealth
- e.g. Andrew Yang, Vivek Ramaswamy
- Strong candidates often forced to drop out in invisible/actual primary due to lack of funding (e.g. Mike Pence)
- would allow 3rd parties to participate
4
Describe the argument that campaign finance should not be reformed - pluralism
- Requirement to fundraise forces candidates to listen to interest groups
- Level of funding demonstrates which candidates are most electable and represent widest section of electorate
- endorsements are arguably more important, especially from different groups
- Koch industries backed Nikki Haley in 2024 Republican primary, yet struggled to make brekathrough
4
Describe the argument that campaign finance should be reformed - transparency
- Reduce influence of dark money and super-PACs
- Reinvogorate democratic trust
- 2020 - Biden recieved $174m dark money comapred to $25m for Trump
- 2020, Super-PACs donated over $1bn
3
Describe the argument that campaign finance should not be reformed - transparency
- Significant proprtion of funding comes from ordinary Americans → participation
- 2020, Trump raised over 1/2 funding from individual donations less than $200
- Number of regulatory bodies to prevent corruption: FEC, IRS, Department of Labor
What percentage of Americans donated to a campaign in 2020?
18%
Biden campaign made (…) in one night in (…)
$26m
2024
3
Give some examples of donations by a wide section of groups to Joe Biden
- ‘Human Rights Campaign’ donated $30k
- ‘Republican Voters against Trump’ donated $10.7m
- ‘Black Votes Pennyslvania’ donated $2m
2
Give some examples of donations by a wide section of groups to Donald Trump
- ‘Coalition for American Veterans’ - $7m
- ‘Moms for Safe Neighbourhoods’ - $2m
