Money Does Matter In Our Federal Elections

Does money matter in our federal elections -- the elections that decide who will go to the Senate and the House of Representatives? It certainly does! The chart above was made from information provided to the PBS Newshour by the Center for Responsive Politics, and it shows that almost every time the candidate who had the most money spent on his/her behalf won their election (82% of the time for Senate candidates and 94% of the time for House candidates).

And sadly, much of this money spent, especially for Republican candidates was dark money. It is called Dark money because it doesn't have to be reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and those donating the money can remain anonymous. This is money that doesn't encourage anyone to vote for one candidate over another. Instead it focuses on issues -- and is usually negative toward a candidates stand on issues. In the election just completed, this dark money was mostly used to tear down and demonize Democratic candidates (and the Democratic Party).

And it looks like the negative smears paid for by dark money worked in this past election. While the low turnout was one factor affecting the election, it seems that the negative ads also worked. A Rasmussen Poll showed that most Americans think the 2014 vote was not a vote for the Republicans as much as it was a vote against the Democrats. And a Gallup Poll showed that the Democrats had a higher favorable rating than the Republicans -- until the last month of campaigning (when the dark money negative ads began to have an effect on the voters' perception of Democrats).

The corporations and the obscenely rich had a big effect on the election by pumping huge amounts of dark money into negative ads to smear Democratic candidates -- and they did it secretly, so that they voters can never know who was donating that dark money. This needs to be changed. No one should be able to buy an election in this country, and that's exactly what they did. There should be a limit on money donated to affect an election, and those donating should have to publicly disclose their names and the amount they donated -- even if it takes a constitutional amendment to accomplish that.