POLL: Most Say That Presidential Candidates Should Refuse Lobbyist Money

[jefferson_dem]

August 29, 2007
Most Say That Presidential Candidates Should Refuse Lobbyist Money
Majority says that Hillary Clinton should refuse

by Frank Newport and Joseph Carroll

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- The issue of accepting campaign contributions from Washington lobbyists has become a significant part of the current campaign strategy of Democratic candidates John Edwards and Barack Obama. Both have stated that they will not accept such contributions -- and both have criticized frontrunner Hillary Clinton for not taking the same pledge. As Edwards says on his campaign Web site: "John Edwards challenged the entire Democratic Party to reform itself and end the practice of taking campaign money from Washington lobbyists."

New Gallup Poll data suggest that this has the potential to be an effective strategy for Edwards and Obama. It appears that presidential candidates are closely in tune with American public opinion when they decry the influence of lobbyists and vow to avoid taking lobbyist money. Asked about acceptable ways for candidates to raise money, more than three-quarters of Americans say that raising campaign money from contributions made by Washington lobbyists is unacceptable, putting it at the bottom of a list of six ways for raising money. Furthermore, two-thirds of Americans say that candidates who accept money from Washington lobbyists cannot change the way things are done in Washington, and overwhelming majorities say that candidates -- and Hillary Clinton in particular -- should not accept money from lobbyists.

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Specifics

A strong majority of Americans say that presidential candidates should refuse to take contributions from Washington lobbyists when they are asked about it directly.

The survey included two variants of questions on this issue. A random half of the sample was asked about a generic presidential candidate refusing to accept lobbyist contributions, while the other random half was asked directly whether or not Hillary Clinton should refuse to accept such contributions.

Eighty percent of Americans say that candidates for president (generically) should refuse to accept campaign contributions from Washington lobbyists; only 18% say it is okay to accept these donations.



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http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=28543

[acmavm]

1. That's because they shouldn't take money from lobbyists.

[liberal N proud]

2. 18% is that the 18% that support bu$h?

[AlGore-08.com]

3. More likely teachers and cops and firefighters who have lobbyists working for their unions

I think we need more than a rejection of lobbyists' money, we need full public financing (the same amount of money for everybody), free media time for the candidates (the same amount of time for everybody) and a set amount of time for campaigns. The length of the current campaign is one of the excuses that candidates are using for raising obscene amounts of money. The Presidential primary process should be set in law as well - - one of the plans which changes the states which go first should be adopted.

[wyldwolf]

4. most oppose publics financing, too

Public financing from the federal government:

Acceptable: 41%
Unacceptable: 57%

[killbotfactory]

5. At the very least, a candidate should acknowledge how corrupt the system is