Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies for Political Science, Daniel Butler, has co-authored a new article in the journal, American Politics Research. The article, titled, "Sources of Candidate Fundraising Affect Perceptions of Electability," looks at sources of funding for political candidates and how those sources affect voters' perception of the candidate. Butler and his co-authors show that self-funding is less effective than money from donors at increasing primary voters’ perceptions of candidate electability. Their results provide insights into how news coverage on the sources of fundraising might mitigate advantages that self-funded candidates might otherwise have. Butler's co-authors include Sarah E. Anderson (UC-Santa Barbara), Barry C. Burden (University of Wisconsin), Laurel Harbridge-Yong (Northwestern), and Timothy J. Ryan (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). 

Read the abstract below and the full article on the journal's website. 

Abstract:

The amount of money flowing in political campaigns in the U.S. has increased dramatically in recent years. Campaign fundraising can provide several signals to voters—especially in primary elections where voters may be considering the electability of candidates in the general election. We conduct a survey experiment to distinguish whether funds influence electability perceptions because they are a war chest of resources that a candidate can use in the general election or because funds signal the candidate’s ability to draw in public support. The results of our survey experiment show that self-funding is less effective than money from donors at increasing primary voters’ perceptions of candidate electability. Our results provide insights into how news coverage on the sources of fundraising might mitigate advantages that self-funded candidates might otherwise have.