Americans down on PACs

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Survey / PollAccording to the most recent Harris Poll survey of American attitudes towards those influencing doings in Washington, Republicans, Democrats and Independents agree: PACs, big business, lobbyists and bankers have too much sway. And the news media was next in line.


88% of all Americans picked PACs as have the most undue influence on Washington, with big companies right behind at 86%.

The news media was #5 on the too much chart with 73%. TV and radio talk show hosts was #7 at 65%.

The people who responded to the poll didn’t think much of their own ability to influence affairs in Washington, putting the public opinion category in the penultimate slot with 14%. But the voice Americans believe is heard the least is that of small business, with a scant 4% saying that group has too much influence.

Here is the full too-much, too-little chart.

Political influence Too Too About Not
Categories Much Little Right Sure
Political action committees 88% 7% 3% 1%
Big companies 86% 9% 3% 2%
Lobbyists 85% 10% 2% 3%
Banks/finance insititutions 81% 11% 4% 3%
News media 73% 19% 5% 3%
Celebrities 67% 20% 7% 6%
TV/radio Talkers 65% 24% 7% 74%
Lawyers 62% 24% 6% 8%
Associations 57% 27% 6% 10%
Unions 56% 35% 5% 4%
Religious groups 41% 48% 8% 3%
Opinion polls 40% 47% 9% 5%
Minorities 32% 56% 7% 5%
Non-profits 24% 64% 6% 5%
Public opinion 14% 78% 5% 3%
Small businesses 4% 90% 4% 2%
Source: The Harris Poll        

In most cases, when the results were broken down along party lines they were similar to the overall results. For example, if you thought Republicans would be more sympathetic to influence by big business, you’d be wrong. Likewise, if you thought Democrats would be down on talkers because of people like Rush Limbaugh, you’d be wrong again.

There are some political gaps – Republicans are in general more likely to attribute too much influence to a variety of categories than Democrats, among them celebrities, lawyers, unions and minorities.

Democrats are much more likely to think religious groups have too much influence, and that just about ends the list, than being Democrats being slightly more likely to believe small businesses carry too much sway (which few Democrats believe).

Here are the results broken down by party.

Categories Rep Dem Ind
Political action committees 91% 85% 91%
Big companies 86% 84% 87%
Lobbyists 91% 81% 87%
Banks/finance insititutions 79% 83% 84%
News media 82% 66% 72%
Celebrities 79% 61% 62%
TV/radio Talkers 65% 68% 60%
Lawyers 75% 49% 70%
Associations 60% 53% 61%
Unions 79% 35% 61%
Religious groups 25% 49% 45%
Opinion polls 48% 33% 43%
Minorities 47% 19% 38%
Non-profits 33% 14% 25%
Public opinion 15% 13% 14%
Small businesses 6% 14% 3%
Source: The Harris Poll      

RBR-TVBR observation: Will there eventually be enough political will for Congress to find away to undo the Citizens United ruling? You have to wonder. Congress took steps to rein in special interest political spending, citizens of all political stripes don’t like it, and four out of nine Supreme Court justices were against it. We realize we’re simplifying this issue, but with that proviso in mind, it seems that five justices is a flimsy dam to hold back that large a flow of political will.