Keywords

Super PACs; candidate-specific super PACs; single-candidate super PACs; presidential primary; presidential campaign; campaign finance

Abstract

The explosion of super PAC activity in presidential primaries since the 2012 election cycle prompts an examination of these organizations’ behavior and its effects on other types of committees. Specifically, this study investigates how fundraising and spending efforts by candidate-specific super PACs, or single-candidate super PACs, benefit their supported candidate’s principal campaign committee. Integrating data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and various qualitative sources, this study explores how candidate-specific super PACs are progressively exploiting their unique legal structure to fundraise for themselves and their candidate’s authorized committee. The probing reveals that candidate-specific super PACs steer contributions toward campaign committees through a process where soft money is transformed into hard dollars for the campaign to spend. Ordinary least squares and probit regression analysis are also used to determine whether the financial strength of candidate-specific super PACs relative to their candidate’s authorized committee influences the number and types of basic campaign activities the super PAC undertakes. The results indicate that the more a super PAC spends compared to its linked campaign, the more it will engage in more traditional campaign activities and have a greater probability of shouldering particular persuasion and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts. The study’s synthesized findings suggest that the financial activities of candidate-specific super PACs in a presidential nomination contest significantly and increasingly facilitate the operations of presidential hopefuls’ campaigns.

Thesis Completion Year

2024

Thesis Completion Semester

Spring

Thesis Chair

Ilderton, Nathan

College

College of Sciences

Department

School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs

Thesis Discipline

Political Science

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus Access

None

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

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Rights Statement

In Copyright