Public Comment
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MichiganCampaign FinanceElections

Michigan Proposal 2026-02 would prohibit certain campaign contributions by regulated electric and gas utilities, government contractors receiving over $250,000 annually, and substantially connected people and organizations. The ban would apply to direct or indirect contributions involving offices that affect them. It would also expand campaign-finance disclosure rules to communications identifying candidates or ballot questions without expressly urging a vote, and expressly cover internet political communications. The proposal combines restrictions on who can contribute with broader rules about public identification of political spending. Those tools address different concerns: preventing conflicts around public decisions and helping voters understand who is paying to influence an election. Critics may question the scope of covered relationships, the treatment of political participation or the practical clarity of the new requirements. The actual ballot offers approval or rejection of the initiated law. A disclosure-only approach or a narrower contribution ban would require later action. This poll asks which direction residents prefer, without predicting how courts would resolve a challenge or assuming that disclosure alone would eliminate political influence. Voters need to know whose money is behind a message, and public decisions should not depend on privileged financial access. The hard part is drawing rules that address those problems clearly. I want residents to weigh the contribution restrictions and the disclosure provisions together, while being honest that they could support one tool more strongly than the other.

Is Proposal 2026-02 the right way to limit utility and contractor influence in Michigan elections?

Overall results

1
67% support · excluded by 4%
7

Voters cannot assess a political message fully if they cannot identify the interests paying to distribute it. I support broader disclosure together with rules that reduce financial leverage around government decisions. Those rules should be applied openly and consistently, so preventing privileged access does not become an excuse for selective enforcement against unpopular viewpoints.

1

Public trust suffers when entities affected by official decisions can finance the campaigns of the people making those decisions. I would approve the combined approach and require clear implementation guidance. Disclosure helps voters evaluate messages, while contribution restrictions address a different relationship that transparency alone may leave intact.

2
41% support · excluded by 17%
7

The ability to participate in political debate should not depend on a loosely understood connection to a business or contract. I would reject this package unless its boundaries are sufficiently clear and justified. Public distrust is real, but a broad restriction can create its own unfairness if people cannot confidently determine whether their participation is covered.

1

A government contract can support ordinary work as well as create concerns about influence. I would not accept a package merely because its purpose sounds reasonable. The state needs rules people can follow and a convincing account of how the covered relationships fit the problem; otherwise compliance costs and uncertainty can reach beyond the conduct voters intended to address.

3
37% support · excluded by 4%
1

Let voters see who pays for political messages and make their own judgments. I prefer that response to giving government a wider role in deciding who may contribute. Disclosure still needs clear limits and usable reporting, but it can improve accountability without making a person’s political participation turn on a complicated relationship test.

1

Disclosure and contribution bans should be evaluated separately. I would pursue clearer information about political spending, including messages that avoid explicit voting language, without adopting this package’s restrictions on contributors. That gives voters more evidence to assess while leaving the state room to study whether a narrower restriction is justified.

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