Campaign Finance in the USA

Question 1

What is soft money? What is hard money? - Campaign Finance

Answer 1

Soft money is money donated to political parties rather than directly to candidates to avoid limitations. Hard money is money donated directly to candidates, which is regulated by donation limits.

Question 2

What is a PAC? What is a Super PAC? - Campaign Finance

Answer 2

A PAC is a Political Action Committee, a body that raises money and spends limited amounts directly attempting to elect a candidate or defeat another candidate. This may involve funding directly going to a candidate.
A Super PAC is a PAC that can spend without limits but that does not direct funds to candidates, instead spending on their behalf without any connections.

Question 3

What is the Federal Election Commission? When was it introduced and why? - Campaign Finance

Answer 3

The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory body that enforces campaign finance laws and controls state funding of parties. Introduced by the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974, which sought to reduce corruption in political funding after the Watergate Scandal under Nixon.

Question 4

When was the Federal Election Campaign Act intrdouced? How did it aim to reform campaign finance? - Campaign Finance

Answer 4

The Federal Election Campaign Act was intrdouced following the Watergate Scandal in 1974. This aimed to limit the size of individual donations to reduce reliance on a few individual donors. Placed limits on maximum donations.

Question 5

When was Buckley v Valeo? How did this act to diminish the role of the 1974 FECA? - Campaign Finance

Answer 5

Buckley v Valeo was in 1976, with this Supreme Court case ending limits upon individual or PAC donations to or against candidates as this violated the First Amendment’s freedom of expression rights.

Question 6

When was the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act passed? What did this aim to achieve? - Campaign Finance

Answer 6

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act was passed in 2002. This introduced 527 groups, which were able to raise and spend millions of dollars, mostly donated by wealthy and unknown individuals.

Question 7

What was significant about the introduction of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act? - Campaign Finance

Answer 7

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act was introduced by Senators McCain and Feingold, who were respectively Republican and Democrat. This cross-party effort aimed to introduce more liberal campaign finance laws by allowing these groups to donate to Super PACs.

Question 8

When was Citizens United v FEC? What were the impacts of this on campaign finance laws? - Campaign Finance

Answer 8

Citizens United v FEC took place in 2010. This allowed corporate and labour organisations the same freedom of speech rights as individuals, meaning they could have unlimited campaign spending. CREATED SUPER PACs.

Question 9

When was Speechnow.org v FEC? What impacts did this have on campaign finance laws? - Campaign Finance

Answer 9

Speechnow.org v FEC was in 2010. This confirmed the creation of Super PACs, which would be permitted unlimited spending so long as this spending is not directed towards candidates.

Question 10

When was McCutcheon v FEC? What impact did this have on campaign finance laws? - Campaign Finance

Answer 10

McCutcheon v FEC was held in 2014. This ruled that the 1974 Federal Election Campaign Act was unconstitutional as it limited freedom of expression rights when donating sums to candidates.

Question 11

What are matching funds? When were they used by presidential candidates? - Campaign Finance

Answer 11

Matching funds is federal momey distributed to candidates at elections by the Federal Election Committee. These were used by presidential candidates between 1976 and 2008.

Question 12

What % of the population of the US donated 1/5 of money during the 2020 election? - Campaign Finance

Answer 12

0.1% of the population donated 1/5 of all money during the 2020 election.

Question 13

How much money did Biden raise in 2020? How mucn money did Trump raise? - Campaign Finance

Answer 13

Biden raised $1.6bn in 2020, with Trump raising $1.1bn.

Question 14

How much money did Obama spend in 2008? How much money did McCain spend? - Campaign Finance

Answer 14

Obama spent $760m in 2008, compared to $360m for McCain.

Question 15

How have the Supreme Court hindered campaign finance reform? How have they impacted democracy? - Campaign Finance

Answer 15

Hindered: The Supreme Court struck down legislation (FECA 1974) due to being unconstitutional, made rulings which set up Super PACs.
Democracy: upheld citizens’ rights in line with constitution, however has undermined this by increasing the influence of wealthy donors over candidates.

Question 16

How has the Federal Election Commission helped to reform campaign finance? How have they hindered this? - Campaign Finance

Answer 16

Helped: limited campaign spending through provision of matching funds, used by candidates until 2008. Still regulate spending in accordance with campaign finance laws.
Hindered: FEC has become ineffective following end of use of matching funds, with any regulation coming retrospectively after a campaign.

Question 17

How has the Federal Election Commission impacted democracy? - Campaign Finance

Answer 17

The FEC has sought to reduce the influence of wealthy donors and powerful individuals in order to cleanse politics of excessive control by these groups. However, its reforms have been deemed to have breached the rights of citizens and have since become wholly ineffective.

Question 18

How has Congress helped to reform campaign finance laws? How have they hindered this? - Campaign Finance

Answer 18

Helped - passed 1974 FECA to improve regulation of political funding after Watergate, passed BICRA to create political consensus over funding reforms.
Hindered - BICRA created 527 groups which could raise and spend millions of dollars with little regulation, permitted raising of soft money, which goes directly to parties rather than candidates to avoid finance limits.

Question 19

How has Congress’ role in campaign finance law impacted democracy? - Campaign Finance

Answer 19

Although Congress did introduce the FECA following Watergate, began to favour liberal and deregulated financing of campaigns (especially after BICRA). Much of attempts to regulate campaign finance have been ineffective and overturned by the Supreme Court, having minimal impact on advancing democracy.

Question 20

How have citizens hindered campaign finance reform? How have they impacted democracy? - Campaign Finance

Answer 20

Hindered - rulings initiated by citizens have overturned limits on individual/PAC spends, have created a largely deregulated campaign finance system. Have also created Super PACs.
Democracy - while citizens have protected their individual rights under the First Amendment, they have largely undermined their own contribution to democracy by asserting the dominance of individual donors.

Question 21

What % of money raised on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign was raised by Priorities USA Action? How much money did this total? - Campaign Finance

Answer 21

90% of outside funds donated on behalf of Clinton’s campaign were donated by Priorities USA Action. This totalled $192m.

Question 22

What % of Clinton’s donations came from individual donors? What % of Trump’s came from the same source? - Campaign Finance

Answer 22

71% of Clinton’s donations came from individual donors. 42% of Trump’s came from the same source.

Question 23

How has campaign finance reform been limited in terms of transparency of funding? - Campaign Finance

Answer 23

Campaign finance reform has allowed the rich and wealthy to secretively donate funds through bodies such as 527 groups (created by 2002’s BICRA) and Super PACs, meaning that the trail of money in US politics is often very discrete and that it is not immediately clear who candidates are beholden to.

Question 24

What distinction is there between individual candidate donations/spends in the UK and US? - Campaign Finance

Answer 24

UK - there are no limits on individual donations to candidates but spending is tightly limited both nationally and for individual candidates at a constituency level.
US - limits are placed on individual donations to candidates (hard money) although not on donations to parties, while the spending of candidates sees no such limitations.