Voters Want to Ban Foreign Corporations From Influencing U.S. Elections
By Danielle Deiseroth
In an alarming turn for America, foreign investors now participate in American elections. Companies accountable to foreign investors are investing hundreds of millions in political contributions, ultimately undermining American self-governance and national security. Companies with appreciable foreign ownership utilize an unintentional loophole in the Supreme Court's Citizens United to spend big to influence elections and ballot measures.
In a new survey, likely voters express strong support for ensuring foreign countries do not influence U.S. elections.
Eighty-two percent of voters agree that “there should be new limits on U.S. corporations spending money in our elections if the corporations have any foreign ownership.” In a 2019 poll conducted by CAP Action and Civis Analytics, 73% of respondents agreed with the statement, indicating that public support has remained consistently strong over the past several years.
Next, we asked voters if they support or oppose a proposal to ban companies with at least 1% ownership from a single foreign individual or entity, or at least 5% ownership from multiple foreign individuals or entities, from spending on U.S. elections. Nearly three-in-four voters (72%) support this proposal, including majorities of voters across party lines.
Lastly, in a split-sample test, we asked voters whether they would be more or less likely to vote for a candidate for office who wants to ban or allow foreign-influenced companies from spending money on U.S. elections. We find that 62% of voters say they are more likely to vote for a candidate who wants to ban foreign-influenced companies from spending money on U.S. elections, while 61% of voters say they are less likely to vote for a candidate who wants to allow it.
These findings indicate that voters broadly support new restrictions on U.S. election spending by foreign-owned or influenced corporations. Notably, there is a bipartisan consensus on this issue, which underscores that regardless of partisanship, voters want to maintain U.S. election integrity.
Danielle Deiseroth (@danielledeis) is the Executive Director at Data for Progress.
Survey Methodology
From July 3 to 4, 2024, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,231 U.S. likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and 2020 recalled vote. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error associated with the sample size is ±3 percentage points. Results for subgroups of the sample are subject to increased margins of error. Partisanship reflected in tabulations is based on self-identified party affiliation, not partisan registration. For more information please visit dataforprogress.org/our-methodology.