Poll shows most Americans dislike billionaires spending in elections

A majority of Americans have a negative view of billionaires spending more money on elections, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos pollconducted in September. Fifty-eight percent said such spending is bad, including 34 percent who said it is “very bad.”

Donations by the ultra-wealthy have surged in recent years as the billionaire class has grown and the courts have shredded campaign finance regulations. Political giving by the richest 100 Americans to federal campaigns has increased nearly 140-fold since 2000, well outpacing the growing costs of campaigns, a Washington Post analysis found.

The poll found that 75 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of independents disapprove of billionaires spending more money on elections, along with 42 percent of Republicans. Another 38 percent of Republicans said billionaire spending was “neither good nor bad,” while 19 percent said it was “a good thing.”

Among those who said billionaires contributing more to campaigns was bad, 50 percent said it was because billionaires buy influence, sway election outcomes, wield undue political power or have self-serving agendas.

“There are very few billionaires in comparison to non-billionaires, but their influence and reach is much more powerful when they financially back elections,” said Leah Welde, a 29-year-old Democrat and graduate school student in Philadelphia. “Essentially their opinions mean more than others.”

Amy Kennedy, a 68-year-old Democrat who lives in Monticello, Kentucky, blamed the surge in billionaire spending on the “terrible” Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court in 2010, which empowered corporations and unions to spend unlimited money on elections. Independent expenditures by outside groups, not including party committees, soared from $206 million in 2010 to $4.2 billion in 2024, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit that tracks federal election spending.

“It unfairly skews elections,” Kennedy said, adding that billionaires are “unduly influencing the democratic government. … They are definitely messing with the U.S. Constitution and the balance of power.”

Views of corporate donations in the poll were similar to views on billionaires; 57 percent said corporations spending more money on elections is bad, including 28 percent who said it’s very bad. Fewer Americans said it’s bad if labor unions spend more money on elections (37 percent), and still fewer said this about middle-income voters (17 percent).

Americans are split on the broader question of whether they think billionaires’ impact on society is negative or a wash — 43 percent say billionaires have a negative impact, while 44 percent said it is either mixed or neither positive nor negative. But only 12 percent said they have a positive impact on society, including just 2 percent who said their impact on society is “very positive.”

Sixty-two percent of Democrats said billionaires have a negative impact on society, compared with 21 percent of Republicans. Most Republicans said billionaires’ impact is neither positive nor negative.

Among those who were positive about billionaires’ impact in society, 28 percent said it was because of the jobs that billionaires create.

“I’m not opposed to people having money especially if they have earned it. They contribute jobs and taxes,” said 71-year-old retired teacher Linda Eyles, a Republican who lives in Brea, California.

“Generally, these billionaires are innovative and bring that to the public at large,” said Richard Rich, a 64-year-old independent voter who lives in Alvin, Texas.

Among those who said billionaires’ impact on society was negative, 21 percent volunteered that it was due to selfishness and greed and another 15 percent said it was due to excessive political influence.

“I don’t believe there is an ethical way for billionaires to even exist in this country,” said Welde, who is studying social work. “To be sitting on that amount of money while citizens in this country are unhoused, hungry and without medical care is abhorrent. I believe in spreading wealth.”

The Post-Ipsos poll mirrored other recent surveys that examined views on billionaires. Most Americans agreed with the claim that billionaires pose a threat to American democracy — views that varied sharply by partisanship but not income level — according to a University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll releasedin April. Among respondents to a Reuters-Ipsos poll in February, about 7 in 10 agreed with a statement that the very wealthy have too much influence on the White House.

The Post-Ipsos poll was conducted online Sept. 11-15 among 2,513 U.S. adults. The sample was drawn through the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, an ongoing panel of U.S. households recruited by mail using random sampling methods. Overall results have a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. Open-ended responses from the survey were coded by BTInsights, an AI open-end coding software that sorted responses into similar categories. Each response was then reviewed by a Post polling team member to ensure it was accurately categorized.

The Post-Ipsos poll also found that Americans are roughly split over whether large amounts of campaign spending by billionaires causes elected leaders to ignore the interests of ordinary voters (51 percent) or whether elected leaders have to pay attention to the interests of ordinary voters if they want to get reelected, regardless of campaign spending by billionaires (45 percent).

A 64 percent majority of Democrats said billionaire campaign spending causes them to ignore ordinary voters, while an identical majority of Republicans said elected leaders still have to pay attention to ordinary voters. Independents said campaign spending causes elected leaders to ignore ordinary voters, by a 57 percent to 39 percent margin.

A slight 53 percent majority of Americans said increased spending on campaigns by billionaires helps Democrats and Republicans about the same, while 31 percent said this money mostly helps Republicans more and 13 percent said it mostly helps Democrats. A Washington Post analysis found that more than 80 percent of the federal campaign spending by the 100 wealthiest Americans in 2024 went to Republicans.