INSTITUTE INDEX: Citizens United by the numbers
Date on which the U.S. Supreme Court issued the landmark Citizens United decision by a 5-4 vote, ending the prohibition on corporate spending in elections and allowing certain anonymous contributions: 1/21/2010
Amount of spending by outside groups in the 2010 U.S. mid-term elections: $294.2 million
Percent increase in that spending over the 2006 election cycle: 427
Of all spending by outside groups during the 2010 election, percent coming from organizations that didn't disclose the sources of their money: 46.1
Amount of money spent in the 2010 U.S. Senate races that would have been illegal prior to the Citizens United ruling: $85 million
Amount in anonymous donations collected by the 10 most expensive 2010 U.S. Senate races: over $40 million
In those same Senate races, percent of anonymous spending that went to winning candidates: 56
Percent more spent on negative political ads by anonymous spending groups than by groups required to disclose their donors: 20
Percent of money spent on the 2010 midterms that came from only 10 groups: 47.1
Rank of spending in the 2010 midterms by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: 1
Amount that group spent to elect pro-business candidates: $31.2 million
Rank of spending by American Crossroads, a group formed by Republican strategist Karl Rove to elect Republicans: 2
Amount spent by that group: $21.5 million
Amount spent by both American Crossroads and Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, another Rove-founded group that aims to elect Republicans: $38.2 million
Percent of all outside spending in the Kentucky Senate race won by Rand Paul (R) represented by donations that would have been illegal before Citizens United: 44.41
In the Florida Senate race won by Marco Rubio (R): 85.72
Of 75 congressional contests in which partisan power changed hands, number in which spending by outside groups favored the winning candidate: 60
According to one national poll, percent of respondents who said they opposed the Supreme Court's decision: 80
Percent of respondents that same poll found wanted congressional action to reinstate limits: 72
Number of votes by which the previous Senate failed to end a Republican filibuster against the DISCLOSE Act, which would have mandated disclosure of corporate expenditures on elections: 1
Number of states that have passed laws in response to Citizens United taking corrective steps such as mandating disclosures of independent expenditures: at least 16
Number of those states that are in the South: 5*
* Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
(Click on figure to go to source.)
Amount of spending by outside groups in the 2010 U.S. mid-term elections: $294.2 million
Percent increase in that spending over the 2006 election cycle: 427
Of all spending by outside groups during the 2010 election, percent coming from organizations that didn't disclose the sources of their money: 46.1
Amount of money spent in the 2010 U.S. Senate races that would have been illegal prior to the Citizens United ruling: $85 million
Amount in anonymous donations collected by the 10 most expensive 2010 U.S. Senate races: over $40 million
In those same Senate races, percent of anonymous spending that went to winning candidates: 56
Percent more spent on negative political ads by anonymous spending groups than by groups required to disclose their donors: 20
Percent of money spent on the 2010 midterms that came from only 10 groups: 47.1
Rank of spending in the 2010 midterms by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: 1
Amount that group spent to elect pro-business candidates: $31.2 million
Rank of spending by American Crossroads, a group formed by Republican strategist Karl Rove to elect Republicans: 2
Amount spent by that group: $21.5 million
Amount spent by both American Crossroads and Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, another Rove-founded group that aims to elect Republicans: $38.2 million
Percent of all outside spending in the Kentucky Senate race won by Rand Paul (R) represented by donations that would have been illegal before Citizens United: 44.41
In the Florida Senate race won by Marco Rubio (R): 85.72
Of 75 congressional contests in which partisan power changed hands, number in which spending by outside groups favored the winning candidate: 60
According to one national poll, percent of respondents who said they opposed the Supreme Court's decision: 80
Percent of respondents that same poll found wanted congressional action to reinstate limits: 72
Number of votes by which the previous Senate failed to end a Republican filibuster against the DISCLOSE Act, which would have mandated disclosure of corporate expenditures on elections: 1
Number of states that have passed laws in response to Citizens United taking corrective steps such as mandating disclosures of independent expenditures: at least 16
Number of those states that are in the South: 5*
* Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
(Click on figure to go to source.)
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Sue Sturgis
Sue is the editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.