The impact of associational ties on the financing of super PACs

Super PACs are relative newcomers to American politics. Unlike most participants in federal elections, super PACs can make independent expenditures using funds raised in unlimited amounts from individuals as well as corporations, labor unions, and other organizations. Using a new dataset, we compare the financing of super PACs to the financing of traditional PACs and we identify the economic and political sectors most prevalent among super PACs and their donors. Our findings demonstrate that with important exceptions, economic or political associations typically have a positive impact on the likelihood an individual or organizational donor will contribute to a super PAC and the amount of the contribution. However, business donors reserve their largest contributions for non-business super PACs, and party-connected and ideological donors routinely support super PACs in either sector. The results indicate that the relationships between super PACs and their contributors are more complex than previously understood.