Role of PACs and Super PACs for electoral finance

what is hard money?

donations to a particular candidate, more regulated by the Federal Election Commission (FEC)

what is soft money?

money which is given to a political party or political action committee (PAC) but is not used for the election of a specific candidates, no limits on contributions

what are independent expenditures?

money spent on campaigning toe elect or defeat a candidate but is independent of any political candidate or party - a type of soft money

pressure groups are able to make unlimited independent expenditures

PAC

political action committee → raises money for the diect purpose of electing/ defeating candidates, for supporting other political campaigns for legislation or initiatives

conations to a PAC are limited to $5000 per donation a year

Super PAC

a type of political action committee which deals only independent expenditures

Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money for political campagining but dont donate directly to candidates/ parties

What did the landmark SC case in Citizens united v Federal Election Commission (2010) do?

• court ruled that the 1st amendment of right to free speech applies to unions and PGs

  • so the Court’s decision allowed PGs and corporations to spend an unlimited amount on political campainging

  • created the SUPERPAC → they can raise and spend an unlimited amount on independent expenditures to campaign for or against political campaigns

examples of unlimited spending of Super PACS

• in 2020 election → Super PACS spent £1.8 billion

• however doesn’t always lead to political success:

  • Super PACs spent $215 million for Clinton while $85.5 million for Trump and Trump was successful

no- PACs and Super PACs have too much influence in US elections

• USA is supposed to be pluralist society so PGs must be able to fully partipate in election campaings

• PGs represent a broad range of issues

• large domations do not guarantee vistory e.g. Clinton v Trump