Sep 25th, 2015

September 25, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the political reform Super PAC MAYDAY.US released a new presidential poll showing that Americans strongly agree – regardless of which political party or presidential candidate they support – on the need to fundamentally reform the way we fund campaigns. The survey is available now online, broken into a Republican sample and a Democratic sample.

Survey respondents indicated not only that they strongly believe there is a problem, but also that they believe – overwhelmingly – that Washington should takes concrete steps to resolve the problem. This support extended to: Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and President Obama taking steps to increase political disclosure; Congress establishing citizen-funded elections that match small donations using public funds; and Congress reforming the Federal Election Committee (FEC) so that it holds lawbreakers accountable.

“A lot divides us as a country, but the results are clear: Supporters of every candidate for President – all the way from Ted Cruz and Ben Carson to Hillary Clinton and Lawrence Lessig – believe that our system is broken and needs fundamental reform,” MAYDAY.US CEO and Board Chair Zephyr Teachout said. “Americans are looking to Washington to break the cycle of corruption, and they’ve had it with a handful of corporations and well-connected individuals exploiting the weakness in our democratic design to corrupt our country from the inside.”

Key takeaways from the poll include:

Corruption

85% of Democrats and 81% of Republicans agree that the system needs fundamental reform. This includes: 88% of Paul supporters, 87% of Christie supporters, and 88% of Clinton supporters.

86% of Democrats and 85% of Republicans agree that corruption would decrease if politicians focused more on small dollar donations than big donations from special interests. This includes: 91% of Huckabee supporters, 86% of Fiorina supporters, and 92% of Sanders supporters.

92% of Democrats and 94% of Republicans agree that special interest money has too much influence in American political campaigns. This includes: 93% of Rubio supporters, 95% of Bush supporters, and 100% of Lessig supporters.

Citizen-funded elections

72% of Democrats and 62% of Republicans respondents expressed support of citizen-funded elections matching small donations using public funds. This includes: 79% of Christie supporters, 78% of Huckabee supporters, and 71% of Biden supporters.

Disclosure

91% of Democrats and 91% of Republicans – the exact same level – believe that Super PACs and special interest groups should have to disclose the source of their funding. This includes: 96% of Carson supporters, 92% of Bush supporters, and 93% of Clinton supporters.

88% of Democrats and 88% of Republicans – the exact same level – believe the SEC should force corporations to disclose their political spending. This includes: 94% of Cruz supporters, 93% of Kasich supporters, and 92% of Sanders supporters.

78% of Democrats and 66% of Republicans believe President Obama should issue an executive order requiring government contractors to disclose their political spending. This includes: 77% of Trump supporters, 72% of Paul supporters, and 82% of Clinton supporters.

FEC Reform

93% of Democrats and 92% of Republicans think the FEC should be reformed so that it holds accountable those who break election law. This includes: 97% of Huckabee supporters, 96% of Kasich supporters, and 98% of Sanders supporters.

The survey – conducted by Public Policy Polling – was conducted September 22-23, 2015 and includes 2,780 primary voters in the sample.