Little Public Awareness of Outside Campaign Spending Boom
Pew Research Center reports that most Americans are unaware of of the impact of Super PACs on elections spending. In a report released August 2nd, just 25% of the respondents to Pew's research have heard a lot about spending by outside groups. The level of awareness runs across party lines and through independents.
Outside spending in Wisconsin during the recall election of Governor Scott Walker was estimated to be in the range of 25 million. Since the results of the recall was about equal the results of regular election, the effectiveness of all that spending comes into question. And, a previous study by the Pew Research Center suggests that most people likely to vote have already formed an opinion about the candidates.
Super PAC's are spending and plan to spend millions to sway our votes. Many of the ad produced and and placed play fast a loose with the truth. There are Websites where you can check the facts. One is FactCheck.org. If you would like to know more about Super PAC's and what they are trying to accomplish, there is a series of reports on these groups produced by NPR.
Others are reporting on these groups. It seems most Americans are not paying attention or, they don't care. Statistics on voter turnout seems to support that idea. According to Infoplease.com the trend has been downward since 1960 for Federal Elections. In 1996 the turnout for the Presidential Election actually fell below 50%. Results have been better since for Presidential Elections. The off-year elections have been below 40% since 1974.
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