Owen Jayson
Staff Writer
There is one subject that students agree on according to this fall’s campus poll — campaign financing. Nearly three-fourths of students surveyed said they believe there should be a limit on the amount of money given to groups to influence the elections.
“There should be some kind of limit on how much money someone can contribute to the campaigns,” said Eduardo Garcia, a freshman in mechanical engineering. “As far as getting that to pass and go into effect, that’s a little difficult and probably unconstitutional to make someone to limit what they spend on,” Garcia said.
Political Action Committees, organizations that spend more than $1,000 toward or against a candidate, are major financial tool in campaigns. Super PACs have unlimited independent spending.
Garcia said Super PACs should not exist. Although they cannot support a candidate directly, he said they put too much competition on each party.
Campaign finance reform has become a popular subject amongst politicians, especially when it comes to the presidential elections. In 2010, the Democratic Party proposed a bill to the senate that would limit the amount of money that could be given to the parties. Two Republicans did not vote on the bill, but all of the remaining Republicans voted against the bill, as did one lone Democrat.
“I’m a Republican and I don’t think there should be a limit. Maybe it seems like a good idea, but it’s just limiting the freedom of the campaigners. Limiting the campaign funding limits freedoms, it limits the spread of the candidate’s message, and it discourages wealthy individuals from running,” said Zack Rankin, a sophomore in computer science. “Donations to campaigns are considered protected under the Bill of Rights as a freedom of speech. People should be able to spend their money however they want.”
According to the New York Times, the Democratic Party has spent a total of $852.9 million, while the Republican Party has spent $752.3 million. Together, the candidates have spent $1.6 billion during this presidential campaign.
“All the money they spend and raise for campaigning is a waste. They should be using it to help get us out of our debt,” Ashlee Cunningham, a junior in psychology said.