By the Money, For the People: The Effect of Campaign Finance on US Congressional Elections
نویسنده
چکیده
The Citizens United v. FEC United States Supreme Court decision in January of 2010 historically ruled that donating money to political causes is considered free speech under the constitution, and that corporations are people, thus giving them a constitutional right to donating money under the First Amendment. The ruling opened the floodgates for huge amounts of money into the US political system. This paper analyzes the effect of campaign spending in US House of Representatives elections, and specifically the role that donations from Political Action Committees (PACs) and Super PACs play in gaining vote share. By separating spending and opponent spending by donation source, as opposed to analyzing “campaign expenditures” as a whole, the analysis shows a strong, highly significant increase in vote share for an increase in PAC support.
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