Widespread dissatisfaction with the role of money in American politics is one of several themes in a recent Pew Research Center report on Americans’ dismal views of the country’s political landscape.
This analysis summarizes key findings about money and politics from the Pew Research Center’s recent report, “Americans’ Dismal Views of the Nation’s Politics.” We conducted the study to better understand how Americans view US politics today and to dig deeper into how the public thinks about the quality of their political representation and the relationship between political actors and the people they represent.
The analysis is based on a survey of 8,480 adults from July 10 to July 16, 2023. All participants are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel recruited through a national, random sampling of residential addresses. That way almost all US adults have an opportunity to choose. The survey is weighted to be representative of the US adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, party affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about ATP’s methodology.
Below are the questions used for the report, along with the answers, and its methodology.
Explore Americans’ views on the political system
This article is drawn from our important report on Americans’ attitudes about the political system and political representation, based on surveys conducted this summer. For more, read:
Large shares of the public view political campaigns as too expensive, elected officials as too responsive to donors and special interests, and members of Congress as unable or unwilling to separate their financial interests from their work as public servants.
Here are seven facts about how Americans view the influence of money on the political system and elected officials, drawn from our recent report.
Most Americans favor political campaign spending limits. About seven in ten US adults (72%) say there should be limits on the amount of money individuals and organizations can spend on political campaigns. Just 11% say individuals and organizations should be able to spend as much money as they want, and 16% are unsure.
Support for spending limits crosses ideological and demographic lines. Across all groups, by at least a three-to-one margin, more people say there should be limits than there shouldn’t be.
Nearly six in ten Americans say it is possible to have laws that would effectively reduce the role of money in politics. Around two in ten (21%) say it is not possible to legislate effectively. A similar percentage (20%) is not certain.
Liberal Democrats are particularly likely to say that it is possible to have laws that would reduce the role of money in politics. About three-quarters (76%) say this, compared with 57% of conservative or moderate Democrats and 52% of Republicans. There are no ideological differences on this issue among Republicans.
In an open-ended question, 11% of Americans volunteer that the biggest problem with elected officials is that they are too influenced by money in politics. An additional 9% describe elected officials as corrupt, and 16% say they don’t work for the people they represent. These concerns are among the top responses to this question.
In a separate open-ended question about the political system as a whole, 15% say the biggest problem is greed or corruption among elected officials.
Americans overwhelmingly say that the cost of political campaigns makes it hard for good people to run for office. More than eight in ten Americans (85%) say this is a good description of the US political system today, including equal shares of Republicans and Democrats.
A similar proportion of the public (84%) say that “special interest groups and lobbyists have too much say in what happens in politics” is a good description of the political system.
Self-interest – especially the desire to make money – is one of the main reasons people believe most elected officials run for office. More than six in ten (63%) say all or most of the people currently serving as elected officials ran to make a lot of money.
Majorities also say that all or most officials ran for office to seek higher-level office in the future (57%) or to seek personal fame and attention (54%). Far fewer say all or most elected officials ran to address issues they care about (22%) or to serve the public (15%).
About eight in ten Americans say members of Congress do a poor job of keeping their personal financial interests separate from their work in Congress. The public also rates members of Congress poorly on listening to the concerns of people in their districts, working with members of the opposing party, and taking responsibility for their actions.
Campaign donors and lobbyists are widely seen as having too much influence on members of Congress. Eight in ten US adults say that people who donate money to political campaigns have too much influence on the decisions that members of Congress make. And 73% say lobbyists and special interest groups have too much influence. Large majorities of Republicans and Democrats say campaign donors, lobbyists and special interest groups have too much influence.
In contrast, 70% of Americans say people who live in representative areas have very little influence the decisions made by their representatives.
Note: Below are the questions used for the report, along with the answers, and its methodology.
Andy Serda is a policy-focused research assistant at the Pew Research Center.
Andrew Daniller is a policy-focused research fellow at the Pew Research Center.