Raymond J. La Raja, professor of political science and co-director of the UMass Amherst Poll, has co-authored a new book “Small Donors in US Politics: Myth and Reality,” which was published earlier this month by The University of Chicago Press. 

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Written with Zachary Albert, assistant professor of politics at Brandeis University, the book draws on extensive data, including surveys and campaign records, to offer the first comprehensive portrait to date of small donors in U.S. elections.

While many political reformers argue that more robust small donor participation in American political campaigns would reduce the influence of the wealthy and improve political responsiveness to ordinary citizens, La Raja and Albert say this is a myth that is largely dispelled by their findings.

They argue that although small donor contributions to high-profile, national races have increased markedly since 2018, the U.S. campaign finance system allows for even larger sums of money from Super PACs and other independent spending groups. Moreover, small donors are mostly similar to their larger contributor counterparts: both are socioeconomically advantaged, strongly partisan, ideologically extreme, and distinct from non-donors. Small donors can also be impulsive, tending to give mostly to high-profile candidates on the ideological extremes, empowering media celebrities and norm-breakers rather than consensus-builders, and they underinvest in competitive and down-ballot races. La Raja and Albert also say that the candidates who rely most heavily on small donor support are not necessarily better legislators or representatives.

However, they also say that small donors bring energy and resources, especially for challengers and outsider candidates, and their book shows how reforms could channel this energy more productively—by strengthening political parties, emphasizing local representation, and creating systems that broaden participation beyond the most ideological citizens.

For more information or to order the book, visit the website of The University of Chicago Press.