This week in the War on Voting: Super PAC them right out of the voting booth

The primary focus on voter suppression has been the overt actions by Republicans, either with restrictive new laws or in interfering with voters during an election. But this week, the Brennan Center for Justice looks at another, just as insidious but less direct form of voter suppression: big money corrupting politics.

They had the independent Opinion Research Corporation conduct a national survey for them this month, asking 1,015 adults questions about Super PACs. The results are not surprising, but still depressing and frightening for our future as a democracy.

• 69% of respondents agreed that 'new rules that let corporations, unions and people give unlimited money to Super PACs will lead to corruption.' Only 15% disagreed. Notably, 74% of Republicans and 73% of Democrats agreed with this statement.
• 73% of respondents agreed that 'there would be less corruption if there were limits on how much could be given to Super PACs.' Only 14% disagreed.  Here, 75% of Republicans and 78% of Democrats agreed.
• Only about 1 in 5 Americans agree that average voters have the same access to candidates (and influence on candidates) as big donors to Super PACs.  Two-thirds of Americans disagree. [...]
• Half of respondents ' and 85% of those expressing an opinion ' agreed that spending in this election is more likely to lead to corruption than in previous elections. Only 9% of respondents thought that, compared to previous elections, it was less likely that the money spent by political groups in this election will lead to corruption.  Republicans (51%) and Democrats (54%) both agreed that spending in this election is more likely to lead to corruption. [...]
• More than two-thirds of all respondents (68%) ' including 71% of Democrats and Republicans ' agreed that a company that spent $100,000 to help elect a member of Congress could successfully pressure him or her to change a vote on proposed legislation.  Only one in five respondents disagreed.
• More than three-quarters of all respondents ' 77% ' agreed that members of Congress are more likely to act in the interest of a group that spent millions to elect them than to act in the public interest.  Similar numbers of Republicans (81%) and Democrats (79%) agreed.  Only 10% disagreed.

While the cynicism disgust about big money in politics might be bipartisan, the effects of it on the voting populace don't appear to be: 26 percent of respondents said they were less likely to vote this year because of corruption in politics. But it gets worse:

• 34% of respondents with no more than a high school education, and 34% of those in households with an annual income less than $35,000, said they would be less likely to vote [...]
• 29% of African Americans and 34% of Hispanics said they were less likely to vote because of Super PAC influence [...]
• 41% of respondents ' including  49% of those who have no more than a high school education and 48% of those with household incomes under $35,000 ' believe  that their votes don't matter very much because big donors to Super PACs have so much more influence.

Voters who are traditionally much more likely to vote Democratic are the majority of those turned off and unlikely to vote this year. And why shouldn't that be the case? They don't'we don't'have the same access to government as the relatively handful of people with Super PACs.

This is another critical challenge for Democrats in 2012. They have to make sure not only that they help these groups get access to the polls, they have to give them a compelling reason to actually want to vote. Occupy Wall Street helped give Democrats a wake up call on the issue of income inequality. But they have to realize just how deep the divide is for Americans, how it permeates civic life. And the potential it has to so narrow the electorate that every election hereafter will be more of an uphill climb for Democrats; at least for Democrats who actually stand up for the middle class. Who knows, they might even pull over some of those cynical Republicans.

For more of the week's news, make the jump below the fold.