Martin Heinrich
Common Cause New Mexico is touting new polling that shows that voters in the 1st and 2nd congressional districts are concerned about special-interest influence in Washington and want campaign-finance reform.
The two polls, released today, found that:
• 84 percent of voters in the 1st District and 88 percent of voters in the 2nd District believe that members of Congress are overly influenced by campaign contributions.
• 65 percent of voters in the 1st District and 68 percent of voters in the 2nd District oppose the recent Supreme Court ruling lifting certain restrictions on corporate and union spending in elections.
“Voters want Congress to act quickly to fix our broken political system,” Steven Robert Allen, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, said in news releases about the two polls.
Harry Teague
You can view the 1st District polling memo and the full data, and the 2nd District polling memo and full data.
The polls were conducted between March 10 and 14. The 1st District poll surveyed 520 registered voters, and the margin of error, depending on the question asked, is listed at being between 3.2 and 4.4 percentage points. The 2nd District poll surveyed 510 registered voters, and the margin of error, depending on the question asked, is listed at being between 2.9 and 4.4 percent.
The polls were conducted by SurveyUSA for Common Cause, MoveOn.org and Public Campaign Action Fund.
The groups are pushing the Fair Elections Now Act, sponsored by Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., which would allow candidates to run on a combination of public financing and donations of $100 or less.
The bill has bipartisan support. New Mexico’s 1st District representative, Democrat Martin Heinrich, and the 2nd District representative, Democrat Harry Teague, are among its co-sponsors.
Allen said in the news releases about the polls that both candidates should be commended for their co-sponsorship and “should know that taking bold steps to reform the way Washington works is good politics.”