Americans express far more alarm about the influence of money in politics than the fact that another Bush and Clinton are running for the White House, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.
Asked to rank their top concerns about the upcoming presidential election, one-third of Americans pointed to the sway that companies and wealthy individuals may have over the outcome, more than for any of five other issues tested.
Democrats were most likely to cite the influence of corporations and wealthy individuals as the top concern, with roughly half of self-described liberals and Democratic primary voters ranking it as their primary anxiety as the 2016 White House race gears up. Only 21% of core Republican voters said it was their top concern.
Republicans, meanwhile, are more worried about the tone of the campaign, with a plurality of 37% saying they worry most about the emphasis on negative advertising at the expense of more substantive policy debates. The influence of wealthy donors was the primary concern for independents, according to the survey, conducted June 14-18.