Brennan Center Releases Report Promoting Public Campaign Financing of State Elections

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law has issued a report entitled “Donor Diversity Through Public Matching Funds.”

As the title implies, the report find that greater participation by small donors in city elections translates into more diverse participation.  It reaches this conclusion by comparing small donors from the 2009 City Council (which are matched 6-1 under the New York City matching funds program) to small donors to 2010 Assembly candidates.

Read the Executive Summary, and the full report.

Unfortunately for advocates of a state matching funds program, the public support does not seem to particularly strong.  A Siena Research Institute poll released this week found that the public is divided on creating a public campaign financing system — 40 percent of those polled supporting it while 36 percent oppose it.