Most Americans Support Campaign Finance Reforms But Few Believe Clinton Or Congress Will Reduce Role Of Money In Politics

A majority of Americans think political donors wield too much influence and say campaign finance reform should be a high priority, but they’re pessimistic about the prospects, according to a poll.

More than half - 57 percent - said they have little or no confidence in President Clinton and Congress writing new laws that will reduce the role of money in politics and be fair to all candidates.

And while 60 percent of those surveyed say campaign finance reform should at least be a high priority this year, only 15 percent ranked it as the top priority for Washington.

Respondents overwhelmingly believed other issues - improving education, reducing crime, reforming Medicare and Social Security - deserve higher priority, according to the poll commissioned by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Researchers for the center, a group that advocates reducing the influence of money in elections, noted that political reform historically has never topped the public’s agenda, even during the Watergate crisis.

In a June 1974 Gallup poll, completed two months before President Nixon resigned, only 26 percent of adults polled named dissatisfaction with government, political corruption or Watergate as the nation’s top problem. Forty-eight percent said the biggest problem was the high cost of living.

Legislation to restrict donations to political parties and otherwise curtail money spent on political campaigns has stalled in Congress this year, despite ongoing controversy over improper fund raising in the 1996 election.

Although most of the controversy has centered on President Clinton and the Democratic Party, 71 percent of people surveyed said they believed Democrats and Republicans are equally likely to engage in questionable fund raising.

The pollsters also said:

Two-thirds of respondents believe that the influence of political contributions on elections and government policy is a major problem.

Three-fourths think a major problem is elected officials who care more about getting re-elected than doing what’s best for the country.

71 percent said that good people discouraged from running for office by the high cost of campaigns is a major problem.

71 percent think questionable fund raising over the last few years had some influence on U.S. foreign policy; 40 percent thought it had a lot of influence.

Two-thirds think their own representative in Congress would take a telephone call from a big donor who lives outside of the district before a call from a constituent of the district who doesn’t give money.

The telephone survey of 1,400 people age 18 or older was conducted April 1-24 by Princeton Survey Research Associates. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.