USPIRG - The Wealth Primary pdf

Our analysis of Federal Election Commission (FEC) campaign finance data for the 2002 election cycle indicates that money played a key role in determining election outcomes and that the majority of campaign contributions came from a small number of large donors (many of whom reside out-of-state).

Candidates who raised the most money won 90% of their primary races in 2002.

While only 0.12% of voting age Americans made a contribution to a candidate of $500 or more, these large donations accounted for 91% of itemized individual contributions received by primary candidates.

31% of itemized individual contributions to primary candidates came from out-of-state donors. Residents of Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware and New Hampshire, for example, were significantly outspent in their home states by a combination of residents from just a few wealthy states, including California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas.