63% think the inflection point of corruption lies in the politicians' decisions, not the special interests' donations.
The most recent Reason-Rupe survey, conducted just before the McCutcheon decision was announced, shows that strong majorities of Americans think elected officials are corrupted by campaign money (75%) and use their political power to help their friends and hurt their enemies (70%).
But Reason-Rupe asked whether the more serious problem is "elected officials enacting policies and spending taxpayer money that benefits the special interest they favor" or "special interest groups spending private money on campaigns to elect the politicians they favor." By 63-30%, respondents chose the former, placing the inflection point of corruption at the politician, not the special interest group. The explanation may lie in the wording: Americans are less favorable to nearly any mention of "taxpayer money," particularly when put in a negative context (as it is here). By contrast, they generally support the freedom to spend "private money"––certainly in a broad sense. Of course, the choice presented in this question is really a false dichotomy: large donations from special interest groups, especially at a level that outweighs donations from constituents, are inextricably linked with politicians favoring those special interests.
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