A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 70% of U.S. voters believe most members of Congress are willing to sell their vote for cash or a campaign contribution. That’s a 14-point increase from three years ago.
Only 13% don’t think this is true, but another 17% aren’t sure.
Fifty-six percent (56%) say it’s likely that their own representative in Congress has sold his or her vote for either cash or a campaign contribution. Half as many (28%) think it’s unlikely.
Those figures include 28% who say it’s Very Likely that their representative has sold his or her vote. Only nine percent (9%) say it’s Not At All Likely.
The issue of government ethics and corruption has consistently been second only to the economy in terms of importance to voters.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters U.S. Voters was conducted on August 7-8, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
So how much do voters think a congressman – or a governor, for that matter - costs? Seven percent (7%) think a contribution of $1,000 will do the trick, while another seven percent (7%) say it takes more than $100,000. Twenty-two percent (22%) say a congressman or governor can be influenced for a contribution of $10,000; 15% think $50,000 is needed, and nine percent (9%) say $100,000 is the price. Thirty-eight percent (38%) aren’t sure how much it would take.
Put it all together and just under a third say the price is $10,000 or less, just over a third say $50,000 or more, and the rest aren’t sure.
These prices are little changed from what voters thought early last year just after the new session of Congress had begun.
This level of skepticism is perhaps not surprising, given that only 16% of voters now rate the overall performance of Congress as good or excellent. Still, that’s the highest it’s been since last September. Voters are narrowly divided when asked if most members of Congress are corrupt.
Americans have long been suspicious of the influence that major campaign contributors have over members of Congress. Interestingly, however, voters continue to think that media bias is a bigger problem in politics today than big campaign contributions.
General Motors, which now has the government as a majority owner thanks to its bailout deal, has resumed contributing to some lawmakers’ favorite organizations, although it is not making direct campaign contributions.
Sixty-four percent (64%) of voters believe that GM and other companies that were bailed out by taxpayers should be prohibited from making donations to organizations and events favored by some key lawmakers. Twenty-one percent (21%) disagree and think bailed-out companies should be allowed to make such donations. Another 16% are not sure.
Most voters across all demographic groups think most in Congress are wiling to sell their vote for cash or a campaign contribution. There’s also little partisan disagreement on how much money it takes to buy a congressman or governor.
With mid-term elections just months away, Americans continue to view being a member of Congress as the least favorable of nine professions.
Voters are evenly divided when asked whether a group of people randomly selected from the phone book could do a better job than the current Congress.
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