She shared with me some of the emails she’s received in recent days, with subject lines such as “Fake News Polls” and “Sleepy, Sleepy Joe.” Which brings us back to Klein and her irksome relationship with the Trump campaign. They’ll fight to preserve their ability to raise funds.” “But the parties share an interest in not cutting back on marketing. “The typical American would like money to matter less in politics,” he said. Miller at Barnard College said he’s not holding his breath for similar measures in the United States, especially after the Supreme Court ruled that there’s virtually no limit to how much private interests can contribute to political causes. Not only does this reduce parties’ focus on fundraising, the OECD concluded, but it also promotes a level playing field and gender equality. Similar percentages can be found in Denmark (75%), Italy (82%), Norway (67%) and Spain (87%). ![]() In Belgium, for example, 85% of political parties’ funds come from the government, according to the international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Some other countries do this to varying degrees. Perhaps the only way we can reduce or even eliminate unwanted political messages is to publicly fund elections, rather than the current system of having politicians spend every waking moment seeking truckloads of private donations. “Given the reliance on small-dollar donations, the email list is one of a campaign’s most valuable assets,” said David Nickerson, a professor of political science at Temple University. I shared Klein’s experience and asked how people can avoid such emails. I contacted both the Trump and Biden campaigns. Once your personal information is out there, it’s out there. The harsh reality is that your contact information - and lots more info - is bought and sold every day by hundreds of data brokers. Unsubscribing from one email list does nothing to block messages from another list. That, of course, is like playing whack-a-mole. “You can unsubscribe from various lists, but that’s about all you can do.” “The emails are the result of vendors who buy and sell and share lists,” Hersh said. Unsolicited emails are a slightly different critter because your email address isn’t part of your voter registration file. “Unless you have a safety reason to have an undisclosed address, such as domestic violence, your voter registration info is public and can be used for political solicitation,” he observed. Hersh, an associate professor of political science at Tufts University. “Unsolicited campaign snail mail cannot be stopped,” said Eitan D. Basically, politicians have a right to reach out to you, and there’s very little you can do about it. ![]() So-called noncommercial speech is protected by the 1st Amendment. There’s a constitutional element to this. “Calls from or on behalf of political organizations, charities and telephone surveyors are permitted.” “Placing your number on the National Do Not Call Registry will stop most telemarketing calls, but not all,” says the Federal Trade Commission. Unfortunately, those safeguards don’t apply to political messages. The federal do-not-call list exists for just this purpose, as do and other resources to block unwanted marketing pitches. They also have to stop bothering you if you so request. In the private sector, companies have strict rules about whom they can call and email, and under what conditions. Politics notwithstanding, there’s the broader issue of the intrusiveness of unsolicited emails, texts and calls. “There might be better ways of running campaigns, but I don’t think that unsolicited contacts are going away anytime soon,” he said. “Unsolicited campaign materials may be annoying, to be sure, but there is evidence that they work,” said Jacob Neiheisel, an associate professor of political science at the University at Buffalo. Trump’s campaign and its affiliated Republican committees raised $210 million. Indeed, the campaign of Democratic candidate Joe Biden reported last week raising $364 million in August alone. ![]() “Even if you only get relatively few responses, it’s worth it,” he said.
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