The Mother Jones Poll

There were 550 respondents to last week’s poll. Here’s what they had to say. Be sure to participate in our <a href="/news_wire/soapbox/">latest poll</a>. Also, check out the <a href="poll_archive.html">results</a> of our previous polls.

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1. What do you think is the best method to reform campaign financing?

19% Elimination of Political Action Committees (PACs)

18% Complete public financing

15% None. I don’t support campaign finance reform.

13% Free television time for candidates who are on the ballot in all 50 states.

11% Stricter contribution limits

11% Stricter spending caps

4% Electronic filing of contributions

9% No response

2. Which party do the following special interest groups/industries contribute more to: Republicans, Democrats, or equal amounts to both parties? (Figures are from the 1994 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics).

a. Defense sector — Democrats

b. American Institute of CPA’s — Equal

c. Energy/Natural Resources sector — Republican

d. National Rural Letter Carriers Association — Democrats

e. Ideological/single-issue PACs — Democrats

f. National Beer Wholesalers Association — Republicans

g. Philip Morris — Democrats
 

3. Help Dole go negative: Write a bumper sticker slogan for his campaign to use to attack Clinton (Best answer wins a MoJo Wire hat).

And our winners are…

“Chelsea: The Only Clinton America Trusts” (Phoebe VanScoy)

“Shifty Redneck or Embittered Veteran: The choice is clear” (Mike T.)

Congratulations!

 

4. Fill in the blanks below to fill in the following quotes:

a. George Bush hinted that Bill Clinton’s trip to Moscow as a student was somehow treasonous.

b. George Bush’s campaign ads said that Willie Horton’s parole and subsequent crimes, showed that Michael Dukakis was too easy on criminals while Governor.

c. Bob Dole said, “Who is this guy? What does he know about it? . . . His word’s no good,” about Bill Clinton, during a rally in New Jersey.

d. Bob Dole said, He’s “liberal, liberal, liberal.” about Bill Clinton.

e. Bob Dole said that Bill Clinton reminded him of his brother Kenny, “the great exaggerator,” who liked to say things that were “not quite accurate.”

f. Bill Clinton said it’s not Bob Dole’s age that concerned him, it’s the age of his ideas.

5. If the elections were held today, and all these candidates had an equal chance of winning, who would you vote for?

39% Harry Browne (Libertarian)

26% Ralph Nader (Green Party)

21.6% Bill Clinton (Democrat)

5% Bob Dole (Republican)

4% Ross Perot (Reform Party)

2% None

2% John Hagelin (Natural Law Party)

.4% Howard Phillips (U.S. Taxpayers Party)

0% Lyndon Larouche (Democrat)

6. If the elections were held today, and you were restricted to just these two candidates, which one would you vote for?

55% Bill Clinton

24% None

21% Bob Dole

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

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