October 23, 1996

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

WE CAME UP SHORT.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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