Money in the 2014 Congressional Elections: Institutionalizing a Broken Regulatory System

The Forum ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond J. La Raja
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Party System ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
Regulatory System ◽  
Congressional Elections ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Campaign Strategy ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Finance System ◽  
Campaign Activity

AbstractThe campaign finance system has fragmented campaign activity in response to rules that are unworkable in a strong party system. The 2014 congressional elections illustrate how party coalitions have adapted to practices that enable them to raise and spend money outside this formal regulatory framework. For several election cycles, partisan interest groups have used outside campaign organizations to circumvent rules that constrain candidate and party committees. The 2014 elections illustrate how party leaders in Congress and these candidates have now embraced the outside campaign strategy to wrest some control from other elements of the party. Recent changes to campaign finance rules may shift additional money toward traditional committees, but outside groups like Super PACs are now established features of US political campaigns.

Experimental Evidence on the Relationship Between Candidate Funding Sources and Voter Evaluations

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Conor M. Dowling ◽  
Michael G. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
Campaign Strategy ◽  
Funding Sources ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
American Elections ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractMoney comes from a variety of sources in American elections. It is unclear however whether voters’ knowledge about a candidate's funding portfolio influences how that candidate is evaluated. We present the results of two survey experiments in which we randomly assigned the composition of donors from various categories to a hypothetical candidate. We find that on average a candidate described as having received a majority of his contributions from individuals is evaluated more highly than one who received a majority of his contributions from interest groups. We also find that when it comes to self-financing a campaign, using private sector money is more beneficial to candidates than using inherited money, but only when the candidate is a member of the same party as the voter. Our results have implications for campaign strategy, academic debates concerning the effect of money on elections, and policy debates concerning the effects of increased campaign finance disclosure.

Interest Group Adaptations to Campaign Finance Reform in Canada and the United States

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert G. Boatright
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Finance Reform ◽  
American Interest ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Le Canada

Abstract.The United States and Canada enacted similar campaign finance reforms in the early 2000s. This article draws upon interviews with leaders of the major Canadian interest groups to explore similarities and differences in the responses of Canadian and American interest groups to reform. While groups in both countries shared an increased emphasis on mobilization and communication with members, the Canadian reforms were more effective at removing many groups from political campaigns entirely. This difference is primarily a result of differences in the two nations' party systems and the historical development of interest groups in the two countries.Résumé.Au début des années 2000, les États-Unis et le Canada ont promulgué des lois similaires visant la réforme du financement des campagnes électorales. Cet article est basé sur des entretiens avec les chefs des principaux groupes d'intérêt canadiens. Il étudie les ressemblances et les différences entre leurs réponses à ces réformes et celles des groupes d'intérêt américains. Même si les groupes des deux pays ont tous insisté sur la communication et la mobilisation de leurs membres, les réformes canadiennes ont mieux réussi à éliminer entièrement plusieurs groupes des campagnes électorales. Cette différence s'explique surtout par la structure différente des deux systèmes de partis politiques et par l'évolution historique des groupes d'intérêt dans ces deux pays.

Money and Politics in the Current Contemporary Congress

2000 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Gilligan
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Congressional Elections ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Presidential Candidate ◽  
Finance Reform ◽  
Campaign Finance Reform ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
The Subject

Campaign finance reform is the subject of ongoing public policy debates in many modern democratic societies. In the United States, individuals and interest groups from across the ideological spectrum have proposed or embraced a variety of campaign finance reforms in attempts to alter the electoral landscape. At least one recent presidential candidate highlighted the issue of campaign finance reform which appear to resonate with voters, as part of a broader strategy to secure his party's nomination. Many of these reforms propose to alter the sources and uses of financial resources in Congressional elections.

The Evolutionary Dynamics of Decision Rule Selection

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Laver ◽  
Ernest Sergenti
Keyword(s):  
Decision Rule ◽  
Positive Feedback ◽  
Party System ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
Past Performance ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Track Record ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Survival Of The Fittest

This chapter extends the survival-of-the-fittest evolutionary environment to consider the possibility that new political parties, when they first come into existence, do not pick decision rules at random but instead choose rules that have a track record of past success. This is done by adding replicator-mutator dynamics to the model, according to which the probability that each rule is selected by a new party is an evolving but noisy function of that rule's past performance. Estimating characteristic outputs when this type of positive feedback enters the dynamic model creates new methodological challenges. The simulation results show that it is very rare for one decision rule to drive out all others over the long run. While the diversity of decision rules used by party leaders is drastically reduced with such positive feedback in the party system, and while some particular decision rule is typically prominent over a certain period of time, party systems in which party leaders use different decision rules are sustained over substantial periods.

Bases Loaded

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Costas Panagopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Elections ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Political Campaign ◽  
Voter Mobilization ◽  
Campaign Strategy ◽  
Partisan Polarization ◽  
The Past ◽  
Swing Voters ◽  
Fundamental Shift

Over the past few decades, a fundamental shift in political campaign strategy has been afoot in U.S. elections: Political campaigns have been gradually shifting their attention away from swing voters toward their respective, partisan bases. Independents and weak partisans have been targeted with less frequency, and the emphasis in contemporary elections has been on strong partisans. This book documents this shift—away from persuasion toward base mobilization—in the context of U.S. presidential elections and explains that this phenomenon is likely linked to several developments, including advances in campaign technology and voter-targeting capabilities as well as insights from behavioral social science focusing on voter mobilization. The analyses show the 2000 presidential election represents a watershed cycle that punctuated this shift. The book also explores the implications of the shift toward base mobilization and links these developments to growing turnout rates for strong partisans and attenuating participation among independents or swing voters over time. The book concludes these patterns have contributed to heightened partisan polarization in the United States.

Interest Groups and Elections

2019 ◽  
pp. 339-357
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Berry
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
Organizational Forms ◽  
Super Pacs ◽  
New Organizational Forms ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Take All

The relationships between interest groups, political parties, and elections have always been dynamic, but in recent years change has accelerated in ways that have favored some interests over others. This chapter considers these developments as the result of a variety of factors, the most critical of which are the growth of polarization, a new legal landscape for campaign finance, and new organizational forms. The chapter goes on to suggest, that as bipartisanship has ebbed, elections have become winner-take-all affairs and interest groups are pushed to choose sides. The chapter further suggests that the rise of super PACs is especially notable as wealthy individuals have become increasingly important, single sources of campaign money, supplanting in part traditional interest groups, especially conventional PACs. It concludes that even as sums spent by super PACs and other interest groups have skyrocketed, the impact of their direct spending on persuading voters remains uncertain.

Teaching Campaign Finance with Federal Election Commission Resources

1987 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 14-15
Author(s):  
Clyde Wilcox
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
Public Office ◽  
Federal Election ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Federal Election Commission ◽  
Campaigns And Elections ◽  
Student Projects ◽  
Election Commission

Many Political Science courses include sections on campaign finance activity. Courses on Congress and on the Presidency may include sections on the financing of elections for these offices, and courses on campaigns and elections will probably cover campaign finance. In addition, courses on interest groups and on parties may include sections that focus on the activities of these actors in financing campaigns for public office.The Federal Election Commission can provide an assortment of materials that may be useful in teaching about campaign finance. Some of these materials are most useful as sources of data for lecture preparation, while other offerings can be used as part of student projects or papers. In the sections below, these materials will be described, and some classroom uses will be suggested.

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