Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
10-2024
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197547922.013.8
Abstract
Public financing consists of the provision of public dollars to candidates or parties to use to pay for campaign expenses. Public financing has the potential to reduce the influence of wealthy donors and special interests, reduce the burdens of fundraising, and, by leveling the playing field, promote electoral competition and political equality more generally. With the Supreme Court increasingly hostile to campaign finance measures that limit the use of private campaign money, public financing, which puts money into the system, is one reform measure that has consistently passed constitutional muster. In theory, public funding could have many benefits, but it is uncertain whether and to what extent public funding in practice accomplishes these goals. Moreover, some scholars have urged that public financing can contribute to political polarization. This chapter examines the variety of public funding programs currently in place in the United States; the constitutional doctrine that has both sustained and constrained public funding; and the evidence of the extent to which public funding may promote electoral competitiveness, stimulate political participation, affect policy outcomes, and contribute to polarization. These effects are often debated and uncertain, but for now public financing is central to the campaign finance reform agenda.
Disciplines
Election Law | Law | Law and Politics
Recommended Citation
Richard Briffault,
Public Financing of Election Campaigns,
The Oxford Handbook of American Election Law, Eugene D. Mazo (Ed.),, Oxford University Press
(2024).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/4557