Washington, D.C. — In a new memo, CAPAF Executive Director Navin Nayak and End Citizens United President and Executive Director Tiffany Muller urge Democrats to reject corporate PAC money in response to public demands for change.
Overall, 8 in 10 Americans think “the influence of money in politics” is getting worse, rather than better. This finding comes out of a new bipartisan poll that also found that 3 in 4 Americans believe that “the laws enacted by our national government mostly reflect what powerful special interests and their lobbyists want.”
Similarly, a poll released earlier this year by CAP found that 78 percent of Americans believe that government serves the special interests, while only 22 percent believe it serves the public interest. In the Trump administration, these numbers have gotten worse, and majorities of voters have less confidence in government under President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress by a 56 percent-to-28 percent margin. However, voters do not make a dramatic distinction between the two parties, which is why Nayak and Muller argue the Democratic party should reject corporate PAC money to draw a clear contrast with an increasingly corrupt Trump-led Washington, as well as to rebuild trust in the long term.
“Change is never easy—in our personal lives, in business, and certainly in politics. But Democrats have a golden opportunity to be the party that breaks up the status quo. Democrats can change how they are perceived by the public in order to both win more elections and begin restoring trust in our government,” say Nayak and Muller.
For more information or to talk to an expert, please contact Jesse Lee at [email protected] or 202-741-6350.