Campaign Finance Reform Just Doesn't Rouse Public

The majority of Americans support campaign finance reform -- but not ardently enough to pressure politicians into doing anything about it, according to a recent article in The Washington Post's The Fix blog. A March 2012 Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 69% of those surveyed, across political affiliations, supported banning Super PACs, for example. A CBS News-New York Times poll in January also found that 67% of respondents thought groups unaffiliated with a candidate should not be able to spend unlimited funds on advertisements. Yet voters don't seem to care deeply enough to put pressure on politicians. Campaign finance was ranked 21st in priority out of 22 political issues in a January Pew Research Center poll, edging out only global warming, the blog article points out. Without a sense of urgency on Capitol Hill, the chances for passage of campaign finance reform bills were seen as "slim" by experts interviewed. As a clear sign of the back-burner status of campaign regulation, the article notes that, as of its publication date, all the members of the Federal Election Commission were serving on expired terms. For more, see http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/04/30/why-dont-americans-care-more-about-campaign-finance-reform/?wprss=rss_national