Americans see excessive political cash as election costs climb
Al Jazeera reported that nearly three-quarters of Americans think politics has too much money as US election spending keeps rising.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
2 min read
Nearly three in four Americans believe there is too much money in US politics, Al Jazeera reported Wednesday, as the country heads toward elections expected to be among the most expensive in its history. The concern points to a widening gap between public unease over campaign spending and the legal rules that allow large sums to flow through the political system.
Al Jazeera’s “This is America” examined the role of money in elections and the limits on efforts to restrict it. The program said the US Supreme Court has treated political spending as a form of free speech, a position that means spending cannot be capped in the way many campaign-finance critics want.
That legal view has shaped modern US elections by tying political spending to speech rights. Al Jazeera reported that the result is a system in which attempts to limit spending run into constitutional barriers, even as many voters say the volume of money has become excessive.
The program also featured an expert who challenged the idea that spending limits are impossible. The expert told Al Jazeera that if society can set speed limits for cars, it can also set limits on political spending.
Al Jazeera did not identify further details in the report about the survey behind the nearly 75 percent figure. It presented the number as evidence of broad American discomfort with the amount of money involved in campaigns.
The report comes as election costs continue to draw scrutiny from voters, candidates and advocates who argue that fundraising and outside spending can affect political influence. Under the Supreme Court’s position described by Al Jazeera, however, restrictions on political spending remain constrained by the court’s free-speech reasoning.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.