All Votes Are Not Created Equal: Campaign Contributions and Critical Votes

Abstract

Conclusions from past research on campaign contributions and legislative voting behavior have been ambiguous. Some find a strong relationship between group donations and votes while others find no relationship at all. In attempts to explain these conflicting results, many address the influence of context on this relationship. This article extends those efforts by studying the "vote context." I argue that contributions are more likely to influence a legislator's vote when that vote means the difference between a contributing group's success or defeat on a bill. By studying votes on 102 bills in the California Senate Governmental Organization Committee, I find that contributions have a stronger effect on those votes that are crucial to the outcome of legislation. Therefore, while contributions may influence only a small number of total votes, they have a significant impact on legislative outcomes.

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