Campaign finance reform: another right-wing conspiracy!Apparently the non-rich likes to give more money to Republicans than Democrats: With its superior donor base, the G.O.P. attracted almost 50 percent more contributors than the Democrats and showed a commanding edge among lower-budget donors who gave less than $200 apiece. Sixty-four percent of them gave to the Republicans, versus 35 percent for the supposed party of the people, according to a detailed study by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group.In contrast, Democrats received $36 million in hard money contributions of $1 million or more, compared to only $3 million to the Republicans. What to make of this? An e-mailer on Oxblog considers this a middle class/lower class dichotomy: People who actually are small donors still have to have enough excess cash to really consider contributing. The Republicans have always had a strong advantage among a broad section of the fairly rich-- the upper middle class, lower upper class, et al. The Democrats have generally had support from the broadly poor and a relatively small number of highly committed supporters among the superrich.Another possibility is that Democrats suffer from a free-rider problem. Are middle-class conservatives more likely to give money to politicians than middle-class liberals? In any case, campaign finance reforms that sought to limit soft money would seem to benefit only Republicans. So why are Democrats for CFR and Republicans against it? |
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