Understanding Campaign Finance and Its Influence

Published October 31, 2023

Stanford political science professor and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Brandice Canes-Wrone, discusses campaign finance research that illustrates political party spending produces more moderate candidates and that individual donor ideologies balance out across the entire electorate.  She further reveals the degree to which money impacts policymaking, with PAC spending influencing legislative access and effort but not roll call votes, while individual donors exert more influence over voting allegiance.