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US Constitution & Federalism - Unit 4C Government & Politics
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Unit 3A GOV3A - The Politics of the USA
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How influential are pressure groups? (D-FELPS)
Funding
• PGs fund campaigns in order to achieve insider status or increase the priority of their agenda
• The Federal Election Campaign Act (1974) opened the door for PACs to dramatically increase
electoral funding
o Nearly 4,600 PACS by 2012
o The NRA have used its PAC to great success – following the Newtown shooting, it raised
$2.7m through its PAC, and 42 of the 47 Senators who opposed gun control measures in
2013 were funded by the NRA
• 527s fund candidate advert campaigns by exploiting a tax loophole - EMILY’s List spent $10m in
2012 alone trying to mobilise female Democrat voters
• Following Citizen’s United v. FEC (2010), funding has become increasingly important
o It ruled that funding was the same as freedom of speech (1st Amendment) and thus allowed
for the creation of Super PACs with unlimited spending ability
o Since this, Super PACs have raised over $800m, and Clinton’s 2016 campaign is
expected to be worth over $2bn
o Restore our Future and American Crossroads raised $250m between them for the
Republican campaign in 2012
• As elections are costing more, funding becomes increasingly important to candidates,
thereby increasing PG bargaining power and influence
o “Parties have come to rely on PAC contributions to finance electoral campaigns” (Heaney,
2010) – it is this reliance that increases the bargaining power of PGs
• Evaluation:
o The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 established complete PG
group financial transparency and banned nepotistic activity
§ “Gone are the days when lobbyists could buy lawmakers” – Stone and Vaida (2008)
o It’s illegal to bribe Congressmen, undermining much of PGs funding activity
§ Duke Cunningham in 2005 was accused of accepting $2.4m in bribes and was
sentenced to 8 years in prison
o McCain-Feingold Act in 2002 banned soft money
o The popularity of Bernie Sanders’ and Trump’s message, denouncing big donors and
Wall St., has arguably signally a turning in public opinion against finance in politics
• Conclusion:
o However, funding remains central to US politics, which is increasing the influence of PGs
and their PACs, and since Citizens United, PACs have effectively had a free reign on
financing elections
o “The big problem is money: buying influence through contributions” (Batchelor)
o Obama stated in his 2010 State of the Union that the case “opened the door for special
interests”
Candidate endorsement
• PGs mobilise members to support a candidate
o Especially significant due to the size of some PGs - AARP has over 40m members, and
thus significant electoral bargaining power
o PGs can therefore use this electoral influence to push through legislation and agendas
§ E.g. the influence of the AARP and the grey-vote led Bush in his 2005 State of the
Union to outline his main priority as reforming social security to allow private
retirement accounts
o Especially important as many voters now are independents and swing voters (40-
45%), thus heightening the candidates’ need for PG endorsement
o The NRA’s Victory Fund claims that in 2014, 90% of the candidates that it endorsed won
• PGs can also do the opposite and publicly denounce candidates
o Through publicising voting records, they can undermine members
o The League of Conservation of Voters’ ‘Dirty Dozen’ shows the 12 least environmentally
friendly Congressmen
§ In 2012, 11 of the 12 didn’t win re-election
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