United Liberty

For a while now we have heard the McCain campaign trying to foment some type of backlash against Obama for promising to take public funding and his subsequent rejection after he found out he could raise hundreds of millions of dollars. The tactic was nothing more than the throwing of a dart while blindfolded and it has yielded little to no benefits. This widely held assumption was confirmed by recent gallop polling with a near  super majority of participants not even knowing who took or rejected what funding. But the polling did have some great data that delved deeper into the policy issues as opposed to the election issues.

The data shows that Republicans favor restricting political spending (what used to be referred to as “free speech” when the money situation favored them) while Democrats are generally more supportive of less limited campaigns. - From Gallup:

Democrats — whose party has generally supported spending limits — oppose them by 54% to 42% in the current poll. Republicans — whose party has generally opposed spending limits — favor them by 64% to 33%.

Forty-two percent of Republicans say all candidates should be required to participate in the public financing system — more than say it should be optional (33%). A slim majority of Democrats say the system should be optional, with equal percentages saying it should be required or should not exist.

Gallup’s Implications Summary-

While Americans generally support limits on spending, it appears as though they are not closely tuned in to how the candidates are funding their campaigns. The new polling suggests that even if they were aware, it would not make a material difference to the way most voters view the candidates.