In a just-released poll, Americans of both parties overwhelmingly
oppose a Supreme Court ruling allowing corporations and unions unlimited
spending on political campaigns. Furthermore, they favor new limits on
such spending according to a new Washington
Post-ABC News poll.
In a recent
post, I argued from two distinct perspectives that the Court had
seriously blundered.
- The action showed a monstrous lack of awareness of the political
facts on the ground, and the role of special-interest groups. - The action showed an originalist or fundamentalistic handling of the
Constitution that is not only asinine, but profoundly lacking in
perspective.
What was striking to me
about the poll was the level of rejection. Eight in 10 poll
respondents opposed the high court’s decision “to allow unfettered
corporate political spending. Furthermore, the poll revealed little
difference of opinoin among Democrats, Republicans and Independents.
What does this mean?
The Post suggested that it implied a strong reservoir of bipartisan
support on the issue for President Obama and Democratic legislators who
are crafting legislation to limit the effects of the ruling.
I am inherently
cautious about drawing much from polling results until I know the size
of the sampling, something about the actual form of the questions, who
commissioned the poll, and the size of the results. There was enough
information available in the article on all of those subjects, except
the actual form of the questions. But when ABC and the Post commission
the poll, that’s a fairly trustworthy sponsor.
It will be very
interesting to see the response to the poll and whether previous
supporters of the decision back off from their support. What do you
think?
